Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Why Disability Inclusion Matters in Eye Health

As we mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 21 May, the IAPB Disability Inclusion Member Engagement Group (MEG) is shining a spotlight on the critical intersection between disability inclusion and eye health.

Globally, more than 1.3 billion people, approximately 16% of the world’s population, live with disability. At the same time, 2.2 billion people experience vision impairment or blindness, over 1 billion of which could be prevented or treated. Persons with disabilities are often at greater risk of developing vision impairment due to overlapping factors such as poverty, reduced access to healthcare, lower levels of physical activity, exclusion from health promotion initiatives, and systemic barriers within health systems. Despite these increased risks, people with disabilities are frequently excluded from eye health services including screening, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Barriers to accessing eye care can include inaccessible clinics and equipment, unaffordable or inaccessible transport, communication barriers, stigma and discrimination, and exclusion from health planning and decision-making. These challenges (replace challenges with systemic barriers) can delay diagnosis and treatment, increasing the risk of preventable vision loss.

This is why disability inclusion must be intentionally embedded within eye health systems. Accessible and inclusive eye health services benefit everyone – improving quality, responsiveness, and equity across the system. This requires intentional actions including designing accessible infrastructure and information, ensuring disability-inclusive outreach and referral pathways, meaningful engagement of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), and the collection and using disability-disaggregated data to better understand who is being left behind.

On this Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let us recommit to building eye health systems that are truly inclusive, ensuring persons with disabilities are no longer left behind.

The Disability Inclusion MEG works collaboratively across the eye health sector to strengthen awareness, practical action, and systems change around disability inclusion.

To learn more about the Disability Inclusion Member Engagement Group or to become a member, visit: https://www.iapb.org/connect/member-engagement-groups/disability-inclusion/

You can also Join Us at 2030 IN SIGHT LIVE, Kenya!

For those attending 203 IN SIGHT LIVE in Kenya, we warmly encourage you to join our Disability Inclusion MEG Session on the IAPB Member Engagement Day.

📅 Thursday 4 June
🕛 12:15–13:30
📍 Breakout Room 2 – Mt Kilimanjaro 1

This participatory session will explore disability inclusion in eye health through a systems-change lens, closely linked to the IAPB themes of integration and scale. The discussion will examine why persons with disabilities continue to be left behind in eye care systems – and what can be done about it.

The session will include:

• Insights from Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs);
• Interactive discussion on barriers to accessing eye care;
• Collaborative solution mapping across policy, financing, service delivery, and partnerships; and
• Exploration of how the Global Summit for Eye Health can accelerate inclusive systems change.