Ljubljana, 3 December (STA) - People with disabilities were in the spotlight Tuesday as a series of events was held to mark the International Day of People with Disability. Integration of people with disabilities benefits all, President Borut Pahor said at a reception he hosted with PM Alenka Bratušek and Speaker Janko Veber.

This is "our unused opportunity", Pahor added, stressing that people with great abilities can be great achievers and that anyone with any talent can serve as an inspiration and a role model.

Everyone with results above the average shows that one must fight to develop their talents, Pahor said at the first such reception, which was held on his initiative. "They are our role models, guides, showing us not to give up when something seems unreachable," he added.

On the other hand Boris Šuštaršič, the president of the National Council of Disabled People's Organisations (NSIOS), said that although Slovenia has a modern system of protection of people with disabilities, they are no longer included in the drafting of regulations that concern them.

The day also brought some welcome news for the disabled, as Infrastructure Minister Samo Omerzel announced that large families and people with disabilities will not have to pay the full price for motorway toll stickers for vans, but EUR 110 as so far, instead of EUR 220 for the new annual vignette for big vehicles.

According to Omerzel, motorway operator DARS will cover half of the price for vans used by large families or disabled people as a donation to the Red Cross, from which aid for the purchase of the toll stickers can be requested.

At another event, Human Rights Ombudsman Vlasta Nussdorfer said people with disabilities were facing many problems in integration in society, and often had to live on very low disability benefits.

Moreover, she noted that people with disabilities were not campaigning together for their rights.

The number of people with disabilities in the world is increasing and stands at around 15% of the population or over one billion people, according to estimates of World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

The Slovenian Statistics Office puts the share of people with disabilities in Slovenia at around 8%, while the NSIOS says it is just below 10%.

The Employment Service presented the trends and cases of best practice in employment of people with disabilities at a press conference today, announcing that the number of unemployed disabled people stood at 17,397 at the end of October, indicating a reversal in a years-long increasing trend.

A total of 2,681 disabled people found employment in the first ten months of the year, which is almost as many as in the whole of last year.

The decreasing unemployment among disabled people is especially positive in the current time of economic crisis, stressed Tanja Dular of the directorate for disabilities at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

Also marking 3 December, which was declared the International Day of People with Disability by the UN in 1992, the Slovenian Association of Working People with Disabilities conferred an award for disabled-friendly municipality to Ravne na Koroškem.