GNV News 2025/4/6

From 2025/4/2 to 3, the Global Disability (※1) Summit 2025 (GDS25) was held in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The International Disability Alliance (IDA) led the event, and the governments of Germany and Jordan hosted it. The purpose of the summit is to energize inclusion of persons with disabilities around the world. Many stakeholders—including governments, academic institutions, organizations of persons with disabilities, and foundations—gathered and engaged in extensive discussions.

GDS also plays a role in promoting assistance for persons with disabilities. Of the 1.3 billion people with disabilities worldwide, about 80% live in low- and middle-income countries. Due to cuts in assistance by USAID and consideration of aid reductions by European countries, there is a possibility that they will be greatly affected.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed strongly highlighted at GDS the shortage of support for disability inclusion. About 90% of low-income countries have legal frameworks to protect the education of persons with disabilities, but only 1 in 3 have accessible schools, and half of those still lack accessible transportation.

People with disabilities are more likely to face inequalities such as prejudice, discrimination, poverty, and exclusion from education, employment, and political processes. Children with disabilities are 49% more likely to be out of school than their peers without disabilities.

At GDS, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) urged leaders worldwide to strengthen support for children with disabilities in crisis situations such as conflicts. Equity in access to quality education also contributes to political stability, it said.

Learn more about welfare systems in different countries → “Uruguay: How society supports caregiving and improves the status of women”

※1 Based on the view that in the kanji term “障害者,” the character “害” refers not to the person with a disability but to a social impediment.

Wheelchair on a sidewalk（Photo: Clyde Robinson / Flickr [CC BY 2.0]）