Established by the United Nations in 1981, the annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3 aims to promote a better understanding of disability issues. It focuses on the rights of persons with disabilities and gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of the political, social, economic, and cultural life of their communities.

Every year an accompanying theme marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In 2008, the Day acknowledged the development of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The 2009 theme, “Making the Millennium Development Goals Disability-Inclusive,” linked disability to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Keeping the Promise: Mainstreaming Disability in the Millennium Development Goals Toward 2015 and Beyond

The theme of the 2010 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, "Keeping the Promise: Mainstreaming Disability in the Millennium Development Goals Toward 2015 and Beyond," reminds us that although many commitments have been made by the international development community to include persons with disabilities in all aspects of development, the gap between policy and practice continues. Persons with disabilities represent key target groups in all the MDGs. Yet, disability and the concerns of persons with disabilities remain to be included in MDG processes and mechanisms.

To commemmorate the 2010 International Day of Persons with Disabilities, USAID staged a photo exhibition from December 3 - 10, 2010 in the 13th street entrance to the Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC. Photos included in the exhibition showed the myriad ways in which the themes of the Millennium Development Goals are present in USAID programs around the world.