The United Nations proclaimed 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP). In connection with this event, countries around the world released a series of commemorative coins. Surprisingly, there is very little information out there about the series, information can only be gathered from numerous resources. I set out to uncover and collect some information about these coins.
I found this series when I was researching braille coins, one piece of this series happens to be the first coin with braille writing, which is the 1 Crown from the Isle of Man.
The theme of the International Year of Disabled Persons was full participation and equality. The United Nations was promoting this event on regional, national and international levels. Some of the goals were raising public awareness, and improving social conditions, equal participation as well as preventing disabilities. The UN also encouraged people with disabilities to form organizations. This is in fact a huge step, because historically many organizations were run and organized by non-disabled people.
There is no data on how many coins commemorated this event and how they related to issues on the national level. Most of the coins referenced the IYDP, so I did what I usually do when I start to research a particular topic, and ran a Numista search. Fortunately, as Numista is doing an excellent job with documenting coin descriptions, legends and coin subjects, I found the following: according to the current search, 19 countries issued 44 coins commemorating the IYDP. This does not mean that this is the exact count, simply, it is a starting point, but I would think that this number is very close, if not exact. Please note that when you look at the Numista search, you will find different results, because the search I ran also includes 3 coins from Slovenia commemorating the European Year of the Disabled, 2003, which I have subtracted.
The coins represent a large variety in many aspects, such as metal composition, mintage and topic. I found circulation coins, as well as low mintage silver and gold commemoratives. Mintage also varies anywhere from a few thousands to millions.
The theme of the coins also show a great variety, I have to admit I don’t even understand many of the references. Some are more known, for example Louis Braille or Ludwig van Beethoven on the Isle of Man Crowns, but one can also find lesser known, but equally important people, such as Jacob Rodrigues Pereira on the Portuguese 100 Escudo, who was instrumental in enhancing sign language in the 1700’s. Not all coins commemorate people, some have symbols of people with disabilities and other references I still couldn’t figure out. While most coins also reference the year 1981, some were minted or released in a different year.
Currently I own 4 of these coins, two from the Isle of Man, and two from Portugal. Obtaining the entire series is definitely a difficult, but most likely not impossible task. Some are as easy as buying them on eBay for a few Dollars, others can costs thousands and due to the low mintage maybe relatively difficult to find. Personally I am not planning to buy the entire series, but I would be interested in uncovering the story behind most of the coins.
At this point I am at the beginning of the research, depending on what I find, I am not sure how far I will go with it, but I will extend this article as I uncover more information.
