Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities

According to estimated by World Bank one billion people, or 15 % of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher for developing countries. One-fifth of the estimated global population or between 110 million and 190 million people experience significant disabilities. Persons with disabilities, on average as a group, are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes than persons without disabilities, such as less education, worse health outcomes, less employment, and higher poverty rates. Persons with disabilities face discrimination and barriers that restrict them from participating in society on an equal basis with others every day. They are denied their rights to be included in the general school system, to be employed, to live independently in the community, to move freely, to vote, to participate in sport and cultural activities, to enjoy social protection, to access justice, to choose medical treatment and to enter freely into legal commitments such as buying and selling property.

The protection guaranteed in other human rights treaties, and grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should apply to all. Persons with disabilities have, however, remained largely ‘invisible’, often side-lined in the rights debate and unable to enjoy the full range of human rights. In recent years, there has been a revolutionary change in approach, globally, to close the protection gap and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy the same standards of equality, rights and dignity as everyone else.

SAGAR Foundation is committed to work for the empowerment of persons with disabilities, through education, training, counseling, guidance, employment etc. Foundation aims at developing Disability Research Network (DRN) to undertake special research project for empowerment of persons with disabilities via networking and capacity building exercises.