New Delhi: On 2 April every year, World Autism Awareness Day is observed to recognise and celebrate persons with autism.
The theme of World Autism Awareness Day 2021 is “Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenges and opportunities in a Post-Pandemic World”.
On 1 November, 2007, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly approved eight draft resolutions, one of which was to designate a day for World Autism Day.
The Assembly designated 2 April as the annual day for the World Autism Awareness Day from 2008.
The ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ (CRPD) came into effect on 3 May, 2008. According to Don MacKay, the chairman of the committee, the CRPD aimed to “elaborate in detail the rights of persons with disabilities and set out a code of implementation”.
Any country member of the UN that “ratifies” the CRPD agrees to legally “treat persons with disabilities as subjects of the law with clearly defined rights as any other person”. The said countries also have to change their legislation in accordance to the international standards laid out in the treaty.
