United Nations Meeting of the General Assembly on Disability and Development
Sally Swanson and Arfi Khambatta attended a one-day meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on disability, September 23 in New York. Globally, over 1 billion people or 15 percent of the world’s population live with some form of disability. An emerging framework will be required to mainstream disability into internationally agreed upon development goals. A greater involvement of the private sector and promotion of international cooperation were included in the key issues. Recommended actions include strengthening the knowledge, awareness and skills of all stakeholders at both policy and operational levels. SSA continues to work internationally on disability access projects and is knowledgeable about global Universal Design guidelines.