People with disabilities are among the largest and most diverse minorities within the global population, representing various abilities, ages, races, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. An estimated 15% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, in which 2 to 4% of these individuals experience significant difficulties in functioning.
Thus, we need to ask ourselves as individuals, societies, and governments:
-Where are the voices of disabled individuals?
-Why are they left in this situation of exclusion?
-Why are disabled individuals excluded in an age of inclusion and diversity?
-How do we include disabled individuals in the decision-making and disaster-response mechanism processes?
-How can we change the social role of disability?
As long as disability is marginalised from other aspects of the human essentials, it will not receive the necessary awareness and discussion.
As TRT World Research Centre, we have initiated a long-term project regarding disability, starting with this report with the primary goal of forming a sound basis of knowledge of the definitions of disability and people with disabilities through a comprehensive description of social and environmental factors. We also aim to create awareness of their issues and analyse some of the recent key data on disabled individuals to paint a picture of their current status. In the long run, we aim to focus on more specific issues through comprehensive publications that will be accessible to blind and deaf individuals.
While the core international human rights documents contain the substantial capacity to help and protect the human rights of disabled individuals, this potential has yet to be fully understood and implemented. Therefore, through this report, our goal is to provide information on the importance of the definition, history and data inclusion of people with disabilities to assist the public, NGOs and governments in taking the necessary actions both on a national and international level to respect the autonomy and dignity of disabled individuals and promote inclusivity, accessibility, and equal opportunity for all.
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