About 15 per cent of the world's population—around one billion people—are living with some form of disability. Disability is more common among women, older people and households that are poor.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes disability as an 'interaction', not solely as an impairment. This means that people are disabled by external factors such as social, economic and cultural barriers in society, not just by their health condition. These barriers often limit the access of persons with disabilities to full and effective participation in society.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is committed to supporting persons with disabilities to improve the quality of their lives by accessing equal opportunities for participation, contribution, decision-making, and social and economic well-being.
Our work is based on the principle of "nothing about us without us". This means that our members actively engage, involve and seek the opinions of persons with disabilities throughout our work so we effectively meet their needs.
We also work to address societal barriers that hamper their participation and to change people's mindsets and behaviours in order to promote respect for diversity.