Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future
The leadership of persons with disabilities is epitomized by the global disability rights movement’s slogan “Nothing About Us Without Us”. It connotes the basic requirements of participation, representation and inclusion and calls for persons with disabilities to actively shape the conditions of their lives.
One of the priorities of the global disability agenda is to advance the agency and leadership of persons with disabilities. In the past decades, persons with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) have already championed for the changes in their communities, and have been leading many of the community-led initiatives not only to advance their own rights, and wellbeing but also promoting inclusive development for instance enabling universal access to basic services by all; they have done so by taking both targeted and mainstreaming approaches to disability inclusion through, among others, consultation, data collection and analysis, and support with advocacy and accountability efforts.