by Elise

Approximately 40,500 children in Gaza have suffered war-related injuries since the war began. Of those, at least 21,000 became disabled, according to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Israel’s displacement orders were often inaccessible to those living with hearing and vision impairment. People, including children, living with disabilities are often forced to relocate to unsafe and undignified conditions. Eighty-three percent of Palestinians living with disabilities lost their assistive aides, and Israel did not replace them because they decided to consider the assistive aides “dual-use items”—usable as weapons! The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities called for the delivery of large amounts of humanitarian aid, for all sides to adopt protection measures for the disabled, and for Israel to adopt specific measures to protect children living with disabilities

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The new accesible playground in Minneapolis. Photo: Landscape Structures

An accessible playground is up and running in Minneapolis, thanks to a two-year campaign by students at Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities Magnet School. The students began the campaign when they were in fourth grade by successfully petitioning against the school’s planned inaccessible playground. Students Liv Evans and Molly Tradewell testified for more inclusive playground designs at school board meetings. Students created designs for the accessible playground, which is now open to the public. Physical therapists submitted designs for rubber mats to be placed over the wood chips for wheelchair accessibility and a low-to-the-playground merry-go-round with back supports. The accessible playground at Ella Baker, which has a citywide special education program, is a blueprint for future play areas in Minnesota’s Lyndale Elementary School and Sullivan STEAM School.

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World Disabilities Day has been observed each Dec. 3 since 1992. The theme for 2025 was “Fostering Disability-Inclusive Societies for Advancing Social Progress.” The UN’s Doha Political Declaration, at the Second World Summit for Social Development held in Doha in November, calls for the advancement of social development through the full inclusion, participation, and leadership of persons living with disabilities in all sectors of society. More than a billion people across the world live with disabilities, and their numbers are rising. Last year saw many world leaders commit to making public buildings, structures, and automobiles accessible. Let’s see what really happens.