Message from the DPI Chairperson to the World Council members
By Abdus Sattar Dulal, World President
October 2025
Dear distinguished friends and members of our beloved DPI, I invite you to reflect on the legacy of our founders as we continue our journey together. Please accept my warmest greetings.
DPI is a vital safeguard in our lives. Since 1981 it has contributed to elevating the status of 1.3 billion disabled people, and it is the main source of many achievements, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). DPI’s existence has had a positive impact on the elimination of unacceptable concepts, discrimination, barriers and the lack of fundamental rights of persons with disabilities. While it has faced significant challenges for over a decade, DPI possesses remarkable resilience — from the local to the national level — a strength that is truly unrivalled in our sector. It is our humble opinion that DPI should be restored to its full strength in order to fulfil its role as a global safeguard for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Since we are the first generation entrusted with shaping the roadmap for future generations of persons with disabilities, it is our pioneering duty to mobilise the efforts. DPI has a strong reputation and a proven track record, with thousands of OPDs worldwide associated with its national assemblies. I therefore respectfully ask that we come together to build DPI as a strong organisation worldwide.
If I have the opportunity and your support, I would like to complete the following actions within a two-year period, by 2027:
- Complete the DPI registration and set up a headquarters.
- Organise a World Council meeting every six months, online or in person.
- Appoint a DPI Executive Director for two years.
- Organise a World Assembly in Bangladesh by 2027.
- Complete the draft list of national assemblies and establish primary communication among regions.
- Organise a DPI ten-year strategic-planning workshop and propose it for approval at the World Assembly.
- Formulate a draft funding proposal for DPI World and circulate it among funders.
- Enhance the international role of DPI and build strategic relations with stakeholders such as the UN and the World Bank.
Since its founding in 1981, DPI has had the privilege of contributing to a major global shift in the disability-rights movement. DPI helped bring international disability organisations together to draft the CRPD and played a key role in forming the International Disability Caucus, ensuring a strong and united global voice for persons with disabilities.
With this history in mind, my commitment is to work with all of you to revitalise and strengthen DPI as a collaborative and inspiring international organisation — one that continues to advance the dignity, rights and leadership of persons with disabilities worldwide through the engagement of their organisations.
— Abdus Sattar Dulal, World President
