World report on disability

The World report on disability (WRD) is the first document to give an extensive global picture of the situation of people with disabilities, their needs, and the barriers they face to participating fully in their societies. The aim of the report is to support the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Published in 2011 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, the report assembles scientific information on disability, with relevance to the fields of public health, human rights and development. The intended audience is policy-makers, service providers, professionals, and advocates for people with disabilities and their families. The WRD was developed with participation of people with disabilities and their organizations, as well as other relevant stakeholders.
Recommendations.
As well as a series of specific recommendations, the WRD highlighted nine cross-cutting recommendations, as follows:
Press coverage.
The launch of the "World report on disability", on 9 June 2011 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, received widespread media coverage. Global and national media outlets such as "The Guardian", "Washington Post", "The Globe and Mail", "Sydney Morning Herald", "Le Nouvel Observateur", "La Nacion", "The Hindu", "Gazeta", "El Pais" and many others covered the launch. Broadcasters such as CNN, BBC Radio, Al Jazeera English, Fox News and Voice of America also ran stories on the report, as did many news agencies: Associated Press, Agence France-Press, Deutsche Presse Agentur, The Canadian Press and Panapress.
Follow-up.
The global launch has been followed up with national launches in many countries including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Netherlands, Myanmar, The Philippines, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA as well as in the European Parliament. The goal of national launches and policy dialogues is to help countries to use the WRD as a tool to strengthen their domestic policy and provision and/or international development work. Many countries now have national plans of action on disability, in line with the report’s recommendation and/or are working to implement the CRPD, with the aid of the report.
Implementing the recommendations of the WRD will require a strong commitment from a broad range of stakeholders. While national governments are expected to take on the most significant role, other actors can make important contributions. The report makes concrete recommendations on how United Nations agencies, Disabled People’s Organizations, service providers, academic institutions, the private sector, communities and people with disabilities and their families can help translate the report into action. WHO is developing supporting materials, such as a model disability survey, guidelines on rehabilitation, and training on community-based rehabilitation to further assist disability work in countries.