An estimated 16% of the world’s population – approximately 1.3 billion people – live with some form of disability. The estimated number of youth with disabilities is 180 to 220 million, nearly 80% of whom live in developing countries. However, the data available on youth with disabilities is scarce, especially in developing countries. Young people with disabilities are one of the most excluded and isolated minorities and face several barriers: they experience higher rates of poverty and many struggle to access quality education opportunities or find decent work. Young women and girls with disabilities experience multiple and compounding forms of discrimination.
This session will bring together Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), United Nations partners, people with disabilities and youth researchers to advocate for a more disability inclusive youth and adolescent agenda. In the session, young people with disabilities will share challenges and proposed approaches to promote the inclusion of young people with disabilities in society and ensure their meaningful engagement in decision-making processes.
Convening partners:
- International Disability & Development Consortium (IDDC)
- Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE)
- UNICEF
- UN Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth (OSGEY)
- Human Sciences Research Council
Speakers:
- Sarah Al Heiwidi, researcher with the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE)
- Yaaseen Samuels, young disability advocate from south Africa
- Volodymyr Charushyn, young disability advocate from Ukraine
- Kirsten Deane, young disability advocate and a Creative Writing Masters student at the University of the Western Cape
- Hamidat Ajibola, from the Women with Disabilities Self-Reliance Foundation in Nigeria
- Ola Abualghaib, Manager of the United Nations Partnership for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD)
- Gopal Mitra, Global Lead on Disability and Development, UNICEF
