International Day of Persons with Disabilities

On 3 December, we join the global community in marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. For 2025, the World Health Organization draws attention to the disproportionate financial inequities faced by people with disabilities in accessing healthcare, urging action to remediate the systemic failures that exclude their perspectives and needs.

Canada’s failing grade on the 2024 Disability Poverty Report Card reflects the ongoing reality that the Canadian Disability Benefit Act, as currently implemented, amounts to legislated poverty. Disability Without Poverty reports that on average people with disabilities would need 30% more income just to reach the poverty line. Embedded systemic restrictions, such as eligibility barriers, asset and earning caps, clawbacks, and punitive reporting requirements, undermine access to financial safety, stability, autonomy and basic personal security.

Disability Without Poverty further asserts that children with disabilities remain invisible in national poverty statistics. As a result, income supports such as the federal Child Disability Benefit cannot be assessed for adequacy. When children with disabilities are folded into broader “child poverty” categories, disparities experienced by low-income families in funding medical devices, therapies, transportation, and other essential supports go unmeasured and underfunded. Without disability-disaggregated data, governments cannot accurately identify need, direct resources, or design equitable funding that reflect the lived realities of families.

Being informed about the concerns raised by Canadians with disabilities is a prerequisite to allyship. Meaningful allyship requires deferring to people with disabilities in advocacy efforts, supporting disability-led systemic change, and ensuring their perspectives guide community action and decision-making. Two truths can exist at once: the personal is political as systems mediate access to well-being and safety, yet this is not the defining context of people with disabilities, or the fullness of their personhood, stories, or identities. True allyship means honoring the diversity of experiences within disability communities, seeking out lived perspectives, and fostering diverse and inclusive relationships in community. 

Disability With Possibility is a podcast series produced by Disability Without Poverty that shares important conversations about disability, building a community of connection through joy, laughter, motivation, and education. 

You can listen to Disability With Possibility on your preferred podcast app, or access episodes directly at:

https://www.disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca/en/podcast