Stories
The UN family - through its funds, programmes and specialized agencies - carries out activities to improve the lives of people around the world.
Read some of these inspirational stories.
UNHCR
For refugee with visual impairment, inclusion brings goals into focus
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, recognizes that including people with disabilities in education is a vital step toward enabling them to realize their potential and live a full and dignified life. To meet that aim in Kenya, UNHCR and partners piloted inclusive education in several schools in Kakuma camp and the adjacent Kalobeyei settlement. Learners with disabilities share classrooms with other students, resulting in a less discriminatory and more inclusive atmosphere for them.
UNFPA
A publication on reproductive health for women with disabilities is published in Braille
In a win for inclusion, a reproductive health publication for women with disabilities has been published in Braille for the visually impaired in Kazakhstan. “The materials we have prepared are designed to empower people with disabilities to live fulfilling lives and exercise the right to motherhood and family planning”, said UNFPA Representative for Kazakhstan Giulia Vallese.
UNICEF
How teachers with disabilities are inspiring children with special needs to return to school
Catherine Anyango, a braille mathematics teacher in Uganda, is helping one of her students to use an optic Braille reader. UNICEF in close collaboration with Ministry of Education and Sports is implementing an initiative that is focusing on developing accessible reading materials for the blind, visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing primary school children in 20 schools in Uganda.
UNICEF
A promising future in sight: Ameer’s story
To help children enroll in school in Syria, Blind Care Association, a UNICEF partner, provides them numeracy, literacy, and remedial classes at its centre after school hours. It also provides access to specialized resource rooms and support to do homework before the children are transported back to their homes. Ameer, who lives 20 kilometers away, is one of the children.
IOM
Success through braille in South Sudan
Sitting around a conference room table in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, Julius Onisente uses a stylus to emboss dots that form patterns to make a sentence. Julius is one of 20 people who attended a three-week Grade II Braille training organized by IOM to help participants build on existing braille reading and writing skills.
OHCHR
Leave no one behind during COVID-19
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in East Africa, UN Human Rights’ regional office, based in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, has taken the lead in ensuring that disadvantaged groups have access to information on COVID-19 through various platforms.
UNRIC Brussels
COVID-19: stories told over the phone
The lockdown is a particularly challenging time for people with disabilities. Among the many initiatives emerging, Belgian association Ligue Braille is helping blind and partially sighted people cope with isolation by reading them stories over the phone and sending audio books in the post.
UNHCR
Helping a blind boy focus on his dreams in Turkey
A UNHCR-funded braille writer is helping visually-impaired Syrian refugees in Turkey, like Ashraf, to express themselves and follow their dreams.
UNESCO
Supporting Ghana to produce HIV Alert materials in Braille
UNESCO, in partnership with Ghanean authorities, has produced and distributed HIV and AIDS alert materials for visually impaired students.
UNICEF
Giving children in Cuba room to grow through inclusive education
Nearly 10,000 children with disabilities study in mainstream schools in Cuba. The lack of specialized schools prompted UNICEF to provide inclusive training and teaching tools to educators.
UNDP Sierra Leone
Protecting every ballot
In 2018, a few weeks before elections in Sierra Leone, 19 Training Officers working with the National Electoral Commission ensured, with UNDP support, that persons with disabilities knew how to vote on Election Day.