Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I’m writing this short statement to wish
you well for your World Down Syndrome Day and for your conference on the right
to employment.
It is important for us to have these
conferences and meetings both globally and especially locally to raise the
awareness of the public of disability and Down Syndrome in particular so that
we can dispel the many myths that prevents the inclusion of people with Down
Syndrome in society.
We face severe challenges in Africa,
especially for people with developmental disabilities and the strong and
persistent myths and disinformation continue to obstruct our efforts to ensure
inclusive development.
On 23rd September 2013, the UN
will be hosting its High-level Meeting on Disability and Development, and this
will provide us with an opportunity to put our issues on the agenda. This Meeting
is important and the themes of the High-level Meeting will influence the
discussion on the post MDGs global development goals.
Employment of people with disabilities is
one of our key demands as people with disabilities. It is at the same time one
of our most persistent challenges and is linked directly to the attitudes that
society have about people with disabilities and especially people with
developmental disabilities.
The High- level Meeting will provide us
with the opportunity to place the issue of education, training, and employment
high on the agenda of the global development challenges and it is therefore critical that we collectively make our
voices heard. We must ensure that the delegations to the High-level Meeting
include as many people with disabilities as possible and this means that we
must start to lobby our governments that they include us in their delegations.
Shuaib Chalklen
UN Special Rapporteur on Disability
