ARD is a fully registered Regional NGO which started as a support group in Kampala (2010), after detecting that PWDs couldn’t advocate for themselves without being a group. With the support from InterAid, UNHCR, and RLP, the group of Refugees with disabilities had been formed. They reached a time when they wanted to create a strong association that will be known all over Uganda.
In 2015, the group started to elaborate a constitution that would provide a legal basis and guide their operations with assistance from RLP. By 2017, the organisation had moved from being a support group to an Association of Refugees with disability (ARD) and in May 2023 ARD moved to a fully registered Regional NGO.