On 6 October 2011, the European Commission adopted legislative proposals for cohesion policy during the period 2014 – 2020. Among other, the new proposals set out the rules for the use of the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund (together referred to as the EU Structural Funds) in the next programming period….
In Belgium support and care for people with disability is a regional matter. As a consequence it makes a big difference if you live in Flanders, Brussels or Wallonia. If you want to learn more about the personal assistance schemes in Belgium you can find a lot of relevant publications on the website of the…
A new regional CIL was established and officially registered in Kragujevac, Serbia on 18 January 2011. Guided by the idea that everyone has the right to choose how he or she wants to live, CIL Kragujevac represents and advocates for social approach to disability and is working on providing facilities for Independent Living of disabled…
On 15 September, the fifth edition of the Freedom Drive was held in Strasbourg. The Freedom Drive is a march for freedom organised every two years by ENIL, which this year saw over two hundred people with disabilities from 20 countries marching from Place de la Republic to the European Parliament. The aim of the…
During the Freedom Drive, the delegation from Sweden held a meeting with a number of Swedish MEPs. As a result of this meeting, a group of MEPs published an article in a major newspaper calling for the closure of long stay residential institutions for persons with disabilities in Europe. The article also refers to the…
Now that the Freedom Drive is over, ENIL is collecting entries to its Road Movie Contest. If you have photos or videos from the Freedom Drive, please send them to the ENIL Secretariat at secretariat@enil.eu. The best photo story or documentary will be shown at the Freedom Drive 2013! Participants from Belgium can also send…
Before this year’s Freedom Drive, we analysed the progress made in implementing the demands from 2009. In case you have not had a chance to read this document, we are sending it to you again. The second document, Freedom Drive Demands Explained, sets out what is behind this year’s demands. ENIL will use the next…
This report includes summaries of all the meetings and events organised during the Freedom Drive week. You will also find the selected press coverage and the main documents in the Annex to the report. The report is available in pdf and Text Only version.
A sailkart is a vehicle designed for leisure or sport, only moved by the force of the wind against a sail. It usually has three points of support on the floor where wheels or ice skates are set. Sail can be of fabric, rigid or semirigid. It is provided of a compartment for the driver…
One of the ways we are discrminated is the way people talks about disabled people… Very good video.
Disabled People against Cuts (DPAC) opens to members and hosts first DPAC Conference in London DPAC is becoming more accountable by opening itself up to members and developing an election process for a new DPAC steering group. DPAC will be one year old on 3rd October 2011. They have hosted many protests against the condem…
In Sweden, every decision regarding personal assistance is reconsidered every second year. The social insurance agency’s new decision making guidelines lead to many people losing their personal assistance affiliated to these reconsiderations. According to statistics from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, 269 people who were entitled to support lost their right to personal assistance in…
My name is Hillevi Larsson. I am a 20 year old girl with a lot of things going on in my life. Since January this year, I live in an apartment of my own in southern Stockholm. I live close to my family so I get to meet with them almost every day. This spring…
If the political parties consider that the top politicians should mirror the electorate, people with disabilities represent the voters no one wants. All political parties are aware that there has to be a certain correlation between their own representatives and the voters whom they want to attract. A party without a geographical balance at the…
The right to vote is fundamental to our status as citizens. It enables us to have influence over political representatives and policy makers. Denying this right to certain people thus legitimises the silencing of their political voices and undermines their claims to citizenship. The right to vote is a long-standing human right. Some earlier interpretations…
We were nine members from JAG in Sweden who travelled by bus from Stockholm to France together with our personal assistants to participate in Freedom Drive in Strasbourg. Here are some pictures and impressions from the trip and the Freedom Drive week.
This year Freedom Drivers will have a new, more visible route, starting at Place de la Republique. From there, we will make our way to the European Parliament. A Member of the Parliament will then take our demands. If you can, please bring banners, megaphones, drums and other props to make theFreedom Driveloud and clear!…
The board of the coalition for inclusion in the Netherlands is occupied with a research on how the future of this network will be. Many questions on the movement that the coalition for inclusion represents, the form it will take…. A lot of brainstorm. Thursday the 18th of August they organized in Rotterdam a…
On July 2, 2009, Belgium ratified the UN Convention on the rights of persons with a disability. The Convention is an important tool for persons with a disability. It gives them a chance to participate, and to strive for their rights and fight for equal opportunities. A lot of disabled people are not familiar with this Convention,…
Ireland as an island has always been an outward looking country, set between the melting pot of America, our friendly neighbour Britain and the network of vision that is Europe. For us Leaders living in Ireland we have always been eager to have what our neighbours have – a system of Direct Payments. The Leader’s…
