As the International Day of Persons with Disabilities approaches on December 3rd, conversations around inclusion feel especially relevant, and they connect closely to what I have been witnessing during my traineeship at the Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) Ethiopia Country Office. FRC supports internally displaced people, refugees, and returnees across the country, from providing humanitarian aid in conflict-affected Amhara to running Functional Adult Literacy programmes in Gambella and livelihoods training in Addis Ababa.

In all these diverse contexts, FRC places disability inclusion at the heart of its work. This means teams identify persons with disabilities early in planning, consult them directly, and adapt activities to ensure their participation. They also work to create disability friendly spaces and support access to assistive devices where possible.

This is crucial in Ethiopia, where persons with disabilities, especially women and girls, face significant structural barriers. Many children with disabilities do not enrol in school, and those who do often encounter inaccessible buildings and limited assistive devices. For women with disabilities, the barriers multiply, as gender norms, safety concerns, and discriminatory practices often push them even further to the margins of education and public life.

I have been learning many things about humanitarian and development work, but two insights have shaped my understanding of disability inclusion more than anything else. The first is that I was introduced to the word “barrier.” Before working at FRC, my understanding of disability, like many others, focused on the individual, as if disability were simply a limitation someone carried. Through my work here, I learnt that it is not an inherent “inability” but something that arises from the barriers society creates. A person who cannot walk is not inherently “unable” to attend school or work; they are prevented from doing so when buildings lack ramps, when assistive devices are unavailable, or when transportation excludes them. When those barriers are removed, participation becomes possible.

The second is the idea that we do not include persons with disabilities out of pity, nor because they are “less capable,” but because a society that excludes some of its members cannot move forward. This aligns coincidentally with the 2025 theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities: “Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress.” The theme emphasises that social development depends on the meaningful inclusion of all segments of society; without this, progress is both incomplete and unjust.

This aligns with SYL’s development cooperation project, which aims to improve accessibility and support for students with disabilities in universities in Ethiopia. Higher education plays a transformative role in shaping future leaders and professionals, yet students with disabilities remain underrepresented. SYL’s initiative recognises that students with disabilities are part of the student community, and that society cannot progress without their full participation.

Praise Yohannes Kassa
KENKKU