Welcome to the Global Disability Summit

Our Story

The Global Disability Summits result in new, ambitious, and widespread commitments that are critical to achieving real change for persons with disabilities.

The Global Disability Summit Secretariat was established to monitor the implementation of the commitments made at the first Global Disability Summit in 2018 (GDS18). Housed within the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the GDS Secretariat works to provide substantive inputs and coordination of the organisation of the Global Disability Summits. 

The Secretariat has established an accountability mechanism to follow the implementation of commitments, supporting stakeholders to achieve the promises they made. We are working with Governments in planning their future Summits, and coordinating the participation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) in the preparation of the Summits and mechanisms that feed into them. 

What is the Global Disability Summit?

The Global Disability Summit offers a concrete mechanism for collecting new, ambitious, and widespread commitments which are critical to achieving real change for persons with disabilities. The first Global Disability held in 2018 (GDS18) was a historic event for disability inclusion, co-hosted by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Government of Kenya, and the International Disability Alliance (IDA). The GDS18 inspired unprecedented engagement and generated commitments to action that will help deliver Agenda 2030’s vision to ‘Leave No One Behind’ (LNOB) as well as existing obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

What's happened since?

Since the GDS18, we have been working hard to ensure that we put an accountability mechanism in place to monitor the commitments made at GDS18 and also plan for future Summits, such as the one being held in Norway in February 2022.

• We publish annual reports to monitor the implementation of the commitments and check-in with stakeholders on how they're getting on with their commitments. Check out our 2020 Report here.
• We have also helped to deliver a number of national consultations to assess progress made against national commitments adopted in 2018, discuss thematic priorities, and plan events, discussions, and training for the run-up to the main GDS event in Norway in February 2022.

What happened next?

The International Disability Alliance, the Government of Norway, and the Government of Ghana hosted the second Global Disability Summit on 16 and 17 February 2022 (GDS22). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure inclusive participation at the Summit, the event was held on a digital platform.

You could access the Global Disability Summit live stream in two places: one via the GDS website and the other via the Government of Norway’s website.

Watch the recordings of the GDS2022.