This year has marked the half-way point of the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030. Since the start of its implementation, many progress has been done through its several flagship initiatives. In this sense, new actions should be taken during the next six years to consolidate the milestones achieved so far. This message was conveyed by the participants of the European Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024.
Co-hosted by the European Commission and the European Disability Forum on 28th-29th November in Brussels, the event gathered hundreds of activists, NGOs, policymakers and other stakeholders from the area of disability rights. “We would like to thank you all, you’ve played a key role in the progress that we’ve made”, said Katarina Ivankovic-Knezevic, from the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission while addressing attendants. Among others, she mentioned the EU Disability Card Directive, the EC Guidance on Independent Living or the launching of the AccessibleEU center as some of the main achievements from the last four years. Still, speakers also underlined the critical moment our communities are going through after the 2024 EU Elections. “We have to ensure that the long-standing support from the European Parliament to the disability movement doesn’t disappear”, stated Ioannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum (EDF).
In line with this, our Executive Director, Lars Bosselmann, intervened to manifest EBU’s support for EDF’s call for extra flagship initiatives during the second half of the Strategy, such as addressing the gaps of the EU Disability Card Directive or bringing forward proposals in the areas of accessible labelling and household appliances. Furthermore, Lars made a point on the importance of ensuring sufficient funding through the Multiannual Financial Programme.
One of the other major subjects discussed during the conference was access to the labour market. Catherine Naughton (EDF) pinpointed the high unemployment rates among persons with disabilities. She added that EU funds in this domain should bring positive change, always following the principles enshrined in article 27 of the UNCRPD. To further monitor the current situation of our communities in all key areas of life, Lucie Davoine (EU Commission) brought the attention to Eurostat’s current work in improving their monitoring tools to help bring solutions to their daily barriers.
In a year marked by the European Parliament Elections, participants also made a reference to the barriers that people with disabilities still encounter in this domain. “Equality must be at the core of our policies”, affirmed Christophe Lefèvre (European Economic and Social Committee). “By reading the testimonials from the voting experiences of persons with disabilities, we need to keep working to ensure their right to participate in political life”, he said.
Independent living was widely discussed throughout the conference too. As many participants underlined, many EU countries still have work to do so our communities can lead more autonomous lives. Taking advantage of the European Commission’s recently published Guidance on Independent Living, Alexandra Lopes (University of Porto) explored the true essence of this concept. “I’ve met policymakers who are not familiar at all with the UNCRPD”, she stated. “Independent living is about being able to interact with others, being part of a community”, said Alexandra. Her co-speakers conveyed her message, adding the need to develop more community-based services to serve that purpose.
A party for inclusion: the 15th Anniversary of the EU Access City Award
As usual, the EDPD Conference featured another edition of the EU Access City Award. This year’s was different as it marked the 15th anniversary of the prize. Vienna (Austria) had the honor to win the first prize thanks to its efforts to improve access to public spaces, public transport, information and communication technologies and public spaces.
Nuremberg (Germany) and Cartagena (Spain) were handed out the 2nd and 3rd awards respectively, with the German city also being given a special mention for their work in promoting accessible sports infrastructures. At the same time, the Swedish city of Borås was recognised with another mention for its Role Model in Built Environment and Transport.
For such an special occasion, the representatives of the cities’ awarded were joined by those coming from cities who were awarded too in past editions. A commemorative reunion which reinforced the essence of this party of inclusion: accessibility never ends and we need to keep promoting inclusion in all aspects of life.