Making our commitments for the future

As the world starts to look to a post-Covid future, people with disabilities, often some of the most marginalised in society, must be a core part of the recovery. This February’s Global Disability Summit gives governments, civil society and the private sector the opportunity to reset their commitments to deliver this over the coming years.

The summit, the second of its kind, is being hosted by the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Government of Norway, and the Government of Ghana on 16 and 17 February 2022 but running virtually.

We will be taking part in the proceedings at events on topics as diverse as disability inclusive climate action through to engaging organisations of people with disabilities.

The event has also allowed us to reset our commitments and update them from those made in 2018. Our commitments focus around ten areas that reflect our core areas of work.

Our commitments

Engaging with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs)

We believe that our role is to stand alongside people with disabilities and help them make their voices heard to advocate for the change they want to see.

Inclusive education

We will reach more young people in more countries with our proven inclusive education model. We’ll use the latest technology and nurture a culture of ambition from an early age. By 2030 we will have supported 10,000 more young people with disabilities into education.

We’ll continue to fight stigma and discrimination within education systems. Based on robust research and evidence gathering, we’ll identify the barriers to youth and then work to remove them. This will be done by taking an intersectional approach to gender and education and working in partnership with schools, communities and international agencies.

Livelihoods and social protection

A change of attitude and an enabling environment are key to increasing the number of people with disabilities accessing employment in the UK and globally. Our ‘disability means business training’ upskills employers to build inclusive workplaces.

We’ll work with governments to develop inclusive work schemes and demonstrate the business case for increasing access to the labour market. This will all be based on our cutting edge research, shared through training with OPDs.

Inclusion in situations of conflict and crisis

Climate change, together with conflict, pandemics and economic crises, disproportionally impact people with disabilities. Our role is to work with communities to foster disaster preparedness which recognises the particular vulnerabilities of people with disabilities, especially women and the old and young.

Disability data

Interventions can’t be effective without the correct information, and we know there is a global lack of disability data. Our Disability Data Portal is a proven tool to address this, and we’ll be expanding this into new countries to build an ever stronger evidence base on disability.

Gender

Appreciating the intersectional aspects of gender and disability is vital for our programmes. We commit to building this into our work from design to evaluation to ensure the most marginalised benefit.

As an employer

We know that to be recognised as a leader in our field, we need to walk the walk. We are committing to be a leading employer of people with disabilities by 2030. A steering group will lead our approach made up of employees with disabilities, whose voices will be at the forefront of change.

Nothing about us without us

Our work will be shaped by the voices and experiences of people with disabilities. By 2030 we aim for every aspect of our work to be co-designed and co-produced with people with disabilities who will be treated as key stakeholders.

Connect with our Insight team on Twitter (@LC_Policy) and tune in to one of the events at which our experts are speaking to find out more.