{"id":353169,"date":"2025-12-03T09:37:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=353169"},"modified":"2025-12-03T09:37:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:37:43","slug":"statement-un-secretary-general-on-international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/statement-un-secretary-general-on-international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"STATEMENT: UN Secretary General on International Day of Persons with Disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-353170\" src=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pexels-tizzy-34965714-642x428.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p>People with disabilities are transforming societies \u2014 leading innovation, influencing policy, and mobilizing for justice. Yet too often, they are denied a seat at the decision-making table.<\/p>\n<p>The Doha Political Declaration, adopted at last month\u2019s World Summit for Social Development, reaffirms a critical truth: there can be no sustainable development without the inclusion of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>People with disabilities drive progress that benefits us all. Their leadership has improved disaster preparedness, expanded inclusive education and employment, and ensured humanitarian responses reach those most at risk.<\/p>\n<p>Many innovations that shape our daily lives \u2014 from text messaging to voice-activated technology \u2014 began as solutions developed by and for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Yet systemic barriers persist: discrimination, poverty, and inaccessible services continue to limit the participation of the over one billion people with disabilities worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, let us commit to working side-by-side with persons with disabilities in all their diversity, as equal partners.<\/p>\n<p>When inclusion is real, everyone benefits. Together, we can build more accessible, resilient societies where all of us thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People with disabilities are transforming societies \u2014 leading innovation, influencing policy, and mobilizing for justice. Yet too often, they are denied a seat at the decision-making table. The Doha Political Declaration, adopted at last month\u2019s World Summit for Social Development,&#8230;","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":353170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-353169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>STATEMENT: UN Secretary General on International Day of Persons with Disabilities - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/statement-un-secretary-general-on-international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"STATEMENT: UN Secretary General on International Day of Persons with Disabilities - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People with disabilities are transforming societies \u2014 leading innovation, influencing policy, and mobilizing for justice. 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