Every year on December 3, the international community observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), a day dedicated to promoting the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society. The IDPD serves as a powerful reminder of the persistent barriers faced by over a billion people worldwide, constituting them as the largest minority group of the world and the urgent need for inclusive policies and reforms.
In 2025, the theme emphasizes the importance of “Fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress,” underscoring the critical role of governments in ensuring equal rights, access, and opportunities.
For Bangladesh, this year marks the 27th National Day of Persons with Disabilities. This milestone is both a celebration and a sober reflection on the country’s progress and shortcomings in protecting disability rights. The recent October protest led by visually-impaired students has starkly highlighted the persistent frustration, discrimination, and unmet demands faced by persons with disabilities in Bangladesh -- a country that prides itself on being an early advocate for disability rights internationally but continues to struggle domestically.
The gap between legal promise and reality
Bangladesh ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in 2007, remarkably as one of the pioneering countries involved actively in the drafting process. The UN CRPD affirms that persons with disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
Despite this, persons with disabilities in Bangladesh have long been relegated either to invisibility in development planning or viewed primarily through a charity lens rather than as rights-bearing citizens.
The country’s legal architecture includes the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act (2001) and the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPPD Act) of 2013. Moreover, institutional frameworks such as the Jatiyo Protibondhi Unnayan Foundation (JPUF), established in 1999 under the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), and the Neuro-Developmental Disability Trust (NDDT Trust), set up in 2014 to address neuro-developmental disorders, exist ostensibly to promote welfare and rights. However, implementation has been weak, fragmented, and insufficient.
Despite the adoption of the National Action Plan in 2018, intended to achieve the RPPD Act’s goals by 2025, little substantive progress has been made. The Ministry of Social Welfare, JPUF, NDDT Trust, and the Department of Social Services (DSS) have not moved beyond the charity paradigm. The pervasive focus remains on welfare distribution rather than empowering persons with disabilities through rights, accessibility, and participation.
The need for a fundamental shift in approach
The charity-based paradigm is profoundly inadequate and must change. The essence of the RPPD Act is rights, not charity -- entitlements, not handouts. Yet, political leadership has largely confined itself to charity-based approaches.
A glaring example is the Ministry name itself: the Ministry of Social Welfare. The term “welfare” implies giving aid and benevolence, which is fundamentally different from ensuring social justice or empowerment. A name like “Ministry of Social Justice” or “Ministry of Social Empowerment” would be far more in line with the vision of rights-based inclusion.
The MoSW faces the Herculean task of managing overlaps across vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, the elderly, widows, Dalits, and government pension recipients. The extensive portfolio means limited capacity and focus to champion disability rights effectively. The estimate of persons with disabilities in Bangladesh is between 17 million to 20 million, though the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 27.2 million (16% of the total population) -- an enormous segment of society demanding dedicated attention.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has similarly fallen short by not actively applying disability rights as fundamental human rights, allowing ongoing discrimination to persist without strong redress mechanisms.
Budget allocations reflect limited commitment
Financial commitment has not matched the rhetoric. The 2025–2026 national budget allocates a mere 0.48% of its total to disability-related sectors, with only 2.8% of the social protection budget earmarked for persons with disabilities. This represents a decline compared to the 2023-2024 budget, where the allocations were 0.49% and 2.94%, respectively. Such figures reveal a troubling trend of deprioritization and underfunding of disability rights and development initiatives.
This limited budgetary provision directly hampers service delivery, accessibility improvements, educational opportunities, and employment programmes crucial for the integration and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
Charting the path forward
The million-dollar question for Bangladesh is: How can the government overcome these systemic challenges and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities?
A primary and transformative step would be restructuring the current administrative framework dedicated to disability rights. Given the population size and the multi-dimensional challenges, Bangladesh must seriously consider establishing a dedicated Ministry for Persons with Disabilities. Such a ministry could provide focused leadership, policy coherence, and accountability, ensuring the effective delivery of rights, services, and mainstream inclusion.
Should the creation of a dedicated ministry prove politically or administratively challenging in the short term, the government must establish a Disability Rights Commission endowed with sufficient administrative power to enforce the RPPD Act, oversee implementation, and provide legal and policy oversight for disability issues.
Stronger administrative reforms must be politically driven and supported at the highest levels. The interim government had an opportunity to initiate reforms but was perhaps burdened by other priorities and ultimately failed to address this urgent need effectively. However, with general elections approaching in 2026, there is hope that the newly elected government will prioritize disability rights reforms as a matter of social justice and national development.
Persons with disabilities in Bangladesh are no longer willing to be sidelined or reduced to objects of charity or afterthoughts in policy-making. The October 2025 protest is a powerful indicator of growing frustration and demand for equal rights and inclusion.
Let this day not merely remain a symbolic event but a turning point toward genuine transformation. With legal frameworks already in place, the country’s breakthrough lies in effective political leadership, adequate budgetary priorities, and strong administrative mechanisms dedicated to ensuring the rights enshrined in the RPPD Act and UN CRPD are fully realized.
Twenty million people with disabilities await this transformative change -- Bangladesh must rise to the occasion and build a future where inclusion, accessibility, and empowerment are no longer aspirations but lived realities.
Ayon Debnath is a development practitioner working with Sightsavers as a campaign adviser in the capacity of a global staff. Amrita Rejina Rozario is currently working as the country director of Sightsavers Bangladesh Country Office.
