 The International Decade of Disabled Persons ran from 1983 to 1993.It was closed by a speech in the General Assembly by Dr. Robert R. Davila, then an Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education who declared that "before the year is up, we expect the number of disabled persons to double".December 3 each year, since 1992, is identified by the United Nations as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.