90 member countries endorse Global Appeal 2018 to End Stigma and Discrimination against People Affected by Leprosy, an initiative taken up by Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) and The Nippon Foundation (TNF)
- Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) Annual Activity Report 2016.
- DPI delegation actively participated at CoSP9.
- DPI was at the forefront at CoSP once again!
- DPI also co-sponsored the following side-events
- DPI has been featured as one of the three case studies in a recently conducted survey by the Global Access and Inclusion Hub on innovation through Global Solution Networks selected for highlighting innovative networked approaches to creating long-term solutions for access and inclusion.
- DPI participated at the 2nd Meeting of the Global Network on Monitoring & Evaluation for Disability-Inclusive Development on May 3-4 2016 at UNHQ in New York and made a statement on the 'Key Issues for Disability Inclusive Development in the Context of the 2030 Agenda'.
- DPI successfully concluded it's 9th World Assembly on 13th April, 2016 in New Delhi, India with the participation of over 200 people from across 70 countries.
- The DPI World Council Meeting was held on 12th April, 2016 in New
Delhi, India. The World Executive elections were also held.
- DPI in partnership with NCPEDP (DPI India) and UNDP co-organised the
International Seminar on Disability & Development on 11th & 12th April, 2016.
- India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi sent a special message on the occassion. He said, "The demographic dividend of people with disabilities must be tapped." The full message can be read here.
- Ambassador Luis Gallegos, Chair, G3ict Board of Trustees & Former Chair, CRPD Preparatory Committee of the UN General Assembly said that the understanding that 15% of the world are persons with some kind of disability is too simplistic as it does not capture the size of the problem.
- Yuri Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Representative India, spoke passionately about disability and economic development emphasizing the need for skilling persons with disability
- Former World Chair of DPI, Venus Ilagan sent her good wishes via a video message. She not only reminisced about the past but also talked about the double discrimination faced by women with disabilities and the need to develop one's capacity to overcome the same.
- “We need a better handle on disability data. We need reliable and culpable data, as we plan and budget who to skill and how to skill, and as we move towards building human capital.” said Charlotte
Mclain-Nhlapo, Global Disability Advisor, The World Bank via video message.
- DPI held its long overdue Asia Pacific (AP) Regional Assembly on
10th April, 2016. The Regional Elections were also held on the same day.
- DPI also held its long overdue Africa Regional Assembly on 10th April, 2016.
The Regional Elections were also held.
- The official website of DPI's 9th World Assembly has been launched! The World Assembly will be held from 11th to 13th April, 2016 in New Delhi, India.
- DPI co-sponsored the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) celebrations on 3rd December, 2015 at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. Ms. Miki Matsue-Matheson and Ms. Dorodi Sharma represented DPI at the Opening session and the panel discussion on “Operationalizing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development with regard to data, statistics and indicators for persons with disabilities”, respectively.
- DPI Global Chair visited DPI Pakistan - PDPI, and also attended a press conference along with DPI World Councillor (South Asia Region), Mr. Mohammad Mobinuddin on "Access to Vote for persons with disabilities" at the Karachi Press Club on 7th November, 2015.
- DPI Global Chair, Mr. Javed Abidi gave the keynote address on 'Inclusive education as a roadmap for national growth and integrity' at the International Conference on Inclusive Education 2015 organised by University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan on 3rd & 4th November, 2015.
- DPI Chair, Mr. Javed Abidi participated in the 2nd Committee's Informal Consultation with NGOs at the UN HQ on 22nd October, 2015 and emphasized on the 'leave no one behind' agenda regarding the SDGs.
- Special Meeting of DPI Members was successfully held on 15th October, 2015 in Ottawa, Canada. 81 Members participated through proxy and the New By-Law (No. 2015-1) was adopted.
- DPI South Asia held its Sub-Regional Meeting on 2nd October, 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Representatives from Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended.
- DPI South Asia members, including DPI Global Chair, Mr. Javed Abidi participated at South Asia Dialogue on Disability & Political Participation organised by IFES from 1st to 3rd October, 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- DPI Latin America elects new office bearers at the DPI Latin America 5th Regional Assembly held on 12th & 13th September, 2015 in Managua, Nicaragua.
- DPI NAC organised it's 9th Regional Assembly on 16th & 17th June in Kingston, Jamaica.
- DPI strengthens its outreach in the Pacific Region by granting associate membership to DPOs in Micronesia, Palau, Tonga and Tuvalu. Total membership reaches 152 countries.
- DPI at the forefront of the World Bank Safeguards Campaign vis-a-vis disability rights representation and inclusion. Many DPI members participate in the ongoing in-country consultations.
- DPI Global Chair visits Mauritius. Sets up Ad Hoc Comittee to take the DPI Agenda forward in the island.
- Vietnam ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on December 3, 2014 bring the total number of ratifications to 153.
- 133 DPI Members participate in the Zero Project Study 2015 on Independent Living and Political Participation.
- DPI Global Chair spoke at the UN DESA-UNESCO Forum on Disability and Development "ICT and Disability: Pursuing Inclusive Development through Technology" held at New Delhi, India on November 25, 2014.
- First DPI-Arab Regional Assembly in Cairo, Egypt held from April 22-24, 2014 leads to historic elections. Executive board elected.
- DPI in partnership with G3ict to organize an event titled "ICT Accessibility: Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and Advocacy Organizations," on 15th-16th February, 2014 in New Delhi, India.
- DPI organized it's first Regional conference, entitled 'Towards Reviving the Arab Disability Movement' in Beirut, Lebanon from 12th-14th December. The endeavour led to the establishment of a Regional Development Office in Beirut as part of the newly created DPI Arab Region.
- DPI organized a successful workshop on 'Building Advocacy Capacity' on 19th-20th November in Blantyre, Malawi. Participants included more than 30 DPO representatives along with members from the Ministry of Disability Affairs.
- A delegation of 6 people from DPI-India to attend a technical workshop on 'Enabling CRPD Compliant Budget Advocacy' in Bangkok, Thailand from 7-10th November, 2013.
- Javed Abidi, DPI Chair to visit Blantyre, Malawi from 18th - 21st November, 2013 to attend the Module 2 Workshop under the aegis of the the Building Advocacy Capacity in Africa Project.
- DPI Vice Chair, Rachel Kachaje appointed as the Minister of Disabilities and Elderly Affairs for Malawi.
- DPI attends the Pre-Sessional working group at Geneva to discuss the situation of child rights in India. DPI-India which recently submitted a parallel report to the CRC will be represented by Kavya Mukhija, a 15 year old child with disability along with Radhika Alkazi, a senior activist and author of the report.
- DPI organized an extremely successful side event on 'Eradicating Extreme Poverty: Addressing the Disability Disconnect’ at the High Level Meeting on Disability and Development on 23rd September, 2013. The event, co-sponsored by UNDESA, JICA, The Hans Foundation and GCAP, had speakers from different sectors addressing the issue of poverty and disability.
- DPI India (National Disability Network) filed a parallel report on Women with Disabilities for India's upcoming review by the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
- DPI released it's response to the UN Secretary General's report on the Post-2015 Agenda.
- DPI India submitted a parallel report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in the light of India’s upcoming review. The report captured the current situation of children with disabilities in the country.
- Javed Abidi, Chairperson DPI participated in the 3rd meeting of the International Working Group for Leprosy and Human Rights that took place on 27th August, 2013 in Gunma, Japan.
- Javed Abidi, DPI Chairperson spoke at the inaugural of the 4th Child Protection Forum for Central Asia in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 1st August.
- DPI co-sponsored the first ever DESA Forum on Disability and Development at the United Nations on 19-20th July, 2013. The aim of the Forum was to contribute to discussions towards a post 2015 UN development framework through exchange of ideas for disability inclusive development.
- DPI organized an extremely successful side event on 'Voices of Youth with Disabilities from the Global South' at the 6th Conference of State Parties. The event, co-sponsored by SCRPD/DESA, UNICEF and MphasiS had speakers from Africa, Asia Pacific and the Caribbean amongst others.
- DPI co-sponsored a side event on 'Promoting Disability-Inclusive ICT Policies for Education' organized by G3ict on 18th July at the UN, New York.
- DPI co-organized a side event with the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) on 'Transforming Communities for Inclusion of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities' at the Conference of State Parties to CRPD.
- DPI co-organized this year's Civil Society Forum (CSF) along with International Disability Alliance (IDA), Rehabilitation International (RI), and GPDD on July 16, 2013, a day prior to the Conference of State Parties (CoSP).
- DPI on behalf of IDA and with the support of the Open Society Foundation successfully organized a Workshop on UPR in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 16th-17th, 2013. Technical experts included Rama Chari and Shivani Gupta from DPI-India and Saowalak Thongkuay DPI Asia Pacific
- Delegation from DPI-Palestine attended the 23rd Session of the Human Rights Council from June 10th - 17th, 2013 at the United Nations Headquarters, Geneva.
- Javed Abidi, Chairperson DPI visited the Parliament in Bujumbura, Burundi and appealed to the President to ratify the CRPD at the very earliest.
- A successful workshop on strengthening an inclusive disability rights movement in Bujumbura, Burundi comes to an end. Chairperson, Javed Abidi urged DPI-Burundi to form an association of people/parents of children with intellectual disabilities.
- UNICEF and UNDESA have thanked DPI for contributing towards the great success of the Online Consultation for a disability-inclusive post 2015 development agenda. More than 1000 posts from 60 countries in different languages were seen on the Forum.
- DPI, EDF and WFD on behalf of IDA and with the support of the Open Society Foundation to co-organize a Workshop in Baku on June 11-13 for drafting Azerbaijan's Parallel Report on implementation of CRPD.
- Moctar Ba, Chairperson of DPI-Mali, Imed Chaker, Chairperson of DPI-Tunisia and Saowalak Thongkuay, Regional Development Officer, DPI-Asia Pacific attended the World Bank Focus Group meeting on Safeguards and persons with disabilities in Washington on April 4, 2013.
- Representatives of the Human Rights Defenders Committee of DPI Tanzania met the Director of Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) and apprised him on various issues concerning the rights of disabled people in Tanzania
- Human Rights Defenders Committee of DPI Bangladesh met Chairperson of Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission and apprised him on various issues concerning the rights of disabled people in Bangladesh
- Javed Abidi, Global Chair, DPI and Shudarson Subedi, Chair, DPI-South Asia to speak at the event titled "Transforming Communities: A Trans Asia Initiative", being organized by Bapu Trust in Pune, India from April 30th to May 4th, 2013
- Iraq ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on March 20, 2013 bringing the total number of ratifications to 130.
- Javed Abidi, DPI's Global Chair visited Tokyo, Japan in March for the second meeting of the IWG on Leprosy & Human Rights.
- Congratulations to Jean Luc Simon, Chairperson, DPI-Europe; Sherzodbek Sharipov, Human Rights Officer, DPI; Maria Isabel Regional Development Officer, DPI Latin America; and Sylvana Lakkis, The Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU).
- DPI-Belgium, DPI-Canada, DPI-India, DPI-Japan, DPI-Peru and DPI-South Africa participated in the Consultations for World Bank Safeguards.
- Human Rights Committee set up by DPI Jamaica. First meeting held on 27th February. This is the 4th such Committee after the ones set up by DPI Bangladesh, DPI Peru and DPI Ukraine.
- Steve Estey from DPI appointed as the Global Coordinator for the Online Consultations on disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.
- DPI joins hands with Light of the World as an implementing partner for their campaign: SAY YES TO INCLUSION!
- To ensure total participation of persons with disabilities in the 2015 general elections, DPI-Nigeria has appointed a Committee to sensitize people with disabilities on their rights and responsibilities.
- Moctar Ba, Chairperson of DPI-Mali to attend the World Bank focus group on safeguards and persons with disabilities in Washington on April 04, 2013
- Zamir Dhale from DPI represented IDA at the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on February 25, 2013.
- Zamir Dhale (DPI-India), a person with deaf-blindness, represented IDA as a participant from the floor during the interactive high level panel discussion to honour this prestigious event.
- Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on February 11, 2013 bringing the total number of signatories to 155
- DPI organized a workshop on Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Mauritius on February 21-22, 2013. More than 20 DPOs participated.
- Javed Abidi, DPI's Global Chair presented the idea of mobilizing disability movements towards advocacy in the global South countries at the Ashoka Globalizer meeting held in Vienna on February 16 and 17, 2013.
- Javed Abidi, DPI's Global Chair spoke at the Zero Project Conference held in Vienna on February 18 and 19, 2013.
- DPI-India organized a National Convention for Youth with Disabilities. Students with disabilities from top colleges and universities participated.
- GPDD Elections announced. DPI, its affiliates DIWA and WAFOD elected to the 3 DPO slots that were available.
- National Assembly of People with Disabilities (NAPD), Ukraine becomes a provisional member of DPI.
- DPI initiates into the Arab region as Disabled Without Borders Organization (DWBO), Palestine becomes a provisional member.
- Rachel Kachaje, 2nd Vice-Chair represented DPI at the Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) held in Geneva on January 22, 2013.
- Pilot Project on strengthening an inclusive and cross-disability movement in Malawi and Burundi begins.
- WAFOD General Assembly in Dakar, Senegal leads to historic elections. New office bearers elected.
- Cambodia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on December 20, 2012.
- Zero Project Report 2013 published on December 3, 2012. More than 80 DPI members participated in the survey.
- DPI unveiled its Position Paper on the WHO CBR Guidelines at the 1st World CBR Congress at Agra.
- Second DPI Executive Committee meeting held at Gurgaon, India on 23rd-24th November, 2012.
- UPR Workshop organized in Dhaka supported by ADD, Bangladesh.
- DPI organized a side-event on Voices of the Global South at the Civil Society Forum ahead of the Conference of State Parties in New York.
DPI-Arab Region organized a Regional Assembly on April 22-24, 2014 in Cairo, Egypt. Over the last one year, DPI, supported by its partner in the Arab region – Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union (LPHU), has been working on reviving and reigniting the disability movement in the often neglected Arab world. Despite all odds, the DPI-Arab region took off in December 2013 during its first regional meeting held in Beirut, Lebanon.
Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) with Disabled People's International and supported by DIAKONIA organized a historic regional conference for Reviving the Arab Disability Movement in Beirut, Lebanon from 12th to 14th December, 2013. Participants from various Arab countries came together on one platform where voices from the Arab Region were heard. The conference led to the establishment of a new DPI Arab region, the office of which will be based out of Beirut, Lebanon.
On 19th-20th November, DPI organized a successful workshop in Blantyre, Malawi, under the aegis of the Building Advocacy Capacity Project in Africa. The workshop was opened by the Minister of Disability Affairs, Rachel Kachaje. It saw more than 30 participants representing different DPOs of the country. The workshop was also attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Disability and Elderly Affairs.
The World Bank has initiated a two-year review process (2012-2014) to overhaul its environmental and social safeguard policies. These policies symbolize core values of the institution and are the cornerstone of the Bank's efforts to protect people and their environment and to ensure sustainable development outcomes.
As part of the DPI-CIDA Human Rights Defenders Project, the Secretary General and Executive Director of DPI-Tanzania met the Director of Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG) on March 12, 2013, and apprised him on various issues concerning the rights of disabled people in Tanzania.
As part of the Human Rights Defenders Project, a delegation of six representatives from DPI-Bangladesh met the Chairperson of Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission on April 4, 2013, and apprised him on various issues concerning the rights of disabled people in Bangladesh.
The World Bank has initiated a two year review process to overhaul their safeguard policies. Currently these policies do not address the issue of disability rights.
As part of the Human Rights Defenders Project, DPI-Jamaica set up the HRD Committee and met for the first time on February 27, 2013. The Committee comprised of representatives from different DPOs and from Combined Disabilities Association (DPI-Jamaica). 
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, also known as VDPA, is a human rights declaration adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights on June 25, 1993 in Vienna, Austria. A very important outcome of this Declaration was the creation of the The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
DPI, supported by International Disability Alliance (IDA), organized a 2 day workshop in Mauritius, on 21st and 22nd February, 2013. The objective of the workshop was primarily to expose DPOs from Mauritius to the concept of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and to motivate them to submit a Stakeholders' Report on Disability for Mauritius' upcoming UPR.
Javed Abidi, Chairperson of DPI, was one of the 8 Ashoka Fellows chosen from across the world to present their ideas on 'globalising' their work at the Ashoka Globaliser Campaign on February 16 and 17 in Vienna, Austria.
Javed Abidi, Chairperson of DPI, was an invited speaker at the second Zero Project Conference organised by the Essl Foundation and the World Future Council on February 18 and 19 in Vienna, Austria. This year's Zero Project Conference was on the issue of 'Employment'. Abidi stressed on the need of a holistic approach towards employment for people with disabilities that looks at the issue of education and accessibility along with employment. A study was conducted a few months back and as many as 82 DPI MNAs participated in this study. 
DPI-India organized the first ever National Convention for Youth with Disabilities (NCYD) on 7th and 8th February in New Delhi. More than 50 students with disabilities from some of the top colleges and universities from across the country participated in this Convention. This prestigious list included IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, NID, ILS Pune, IIMC, among others. The idea of this Convention was to get together some of the brightest young disabled people and expose them to various issues related to disability. The Convention saw speakers from an array of domains come together to address the students – Disabled Activists, Politicians, Corporate representatives and Media professionals. 
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently held its Executive Board meeting in Geneva from January 21-29, 2013. The World Report on Disability was an item of discussion on January 22, 2013 at the EB meeting, where Rachel Kachaje, Vice-Chair presented her statement. 
The West African Federation of the Disabled (WAFOD) organized a Sub Regional Assembly on 8th-9th December 2012, in Senegal, Dakar. 
Disabled People's International (DPI) organized a Side Event at the Civil Society Forum ahead of the 5th Conference of State Parties in New York on September 11, 2012. The session was opened by Ms. Judith Heumann, Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, US Department of State. Mr. Shuaib Chalklen, Special Rapporteur on Disability chaired the Session and Ms. Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Coordinator, Office for Disability and Inclusive Development, USAID co-chaired it. 
