From Associated Press/USA Today and Reuters:

The United Nations has appointed musician Stevie Wonder as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. He will will focus on helping to improve life for the estimated 650 million people with disabilities – about 10% of the world’s population.

UN representatives said the singer-songwriter, who has won 25 Grammy awards, is being recognized for his philanthropic work with the U.S. President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and Junior Blind of America.

Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950 and became blind shortly after birth.

(Getty Images photo from USA Today)

UPDATE from AP:

Referring to the 650 million people with disabilities, Wonder said, “It is beyond my ability to fathom that 10 percent of the people of this world don’t matter to the other 90 percent of the people in the world.”

“I would hope that every single human being, and every single world leader, will commit themselves to making this world a better place and accessible for every single human being on this planet,” he said.

See also: Wonder promotes message of peace — CNN

Earlier post: UN says huge barriers remain for people with disabilities

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 3:27 pm and is filed under advocacy, arts/music, celebrities, international, NOT2BEMISSED, philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.