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European Network on Independent Living

ENIL is a user-led network of disabled people, with members throughout Europe. Our mission is to advocate for Independent Living values, principles and practices: provision of personal assistance and other community supports and services, a barrier-free environment and adequate technical aids, together making full citizenship of disabled people possible.

Power chair user with microphone screaming with fist raised. Across the website, photos show ENIL members in everyday and activist settings. Some use wheelchairs. There is a mix of genders. Most have white skin.

About our organisation

ENIL is a network based on solidarity and peer support

ENIL is a forum for all disabled people, Independent Living organisations and their non-disabled allies on the issues of Independent Living. ENIL represents the disability movement for human rights and social inclusion, based on solidarity, peer support, deinstitutionalisation, democracy, self-representation, cross-disability and self-determination. Our vision is of Europe where all disabled people are able to exercise choice and control over their lives, on an equal level with others; where they are valued members of the community and can enjoy all of their human rights, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

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What do we do ?

Campaigns

Learn more about our campaigns, such as the Freedom Drive.

Projects

Find out about our projects and download the project results.

Factsheet

Explore the themes ENIL is working on, such as Independent Living or deinstitutionalisation.

Join us!

ENIL provides a platform for grassroots activists and organisations

ENIL works to strengthen the empowerment of disabled people, through providing resources for peer support and peer-to-peer training. ENIL enhances the European disability sector by providing an arena for the sharing of disabled people’s experience of services and by providing expertise on independent living. Our Youth Network brings together young people, making their voice heard in the independent living movement.

Recent News

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UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture recognises institutions as places of deprivation of liberty UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture recognises institutions as places of deprivation of liberty

The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereafter “the Subcommittee”) has recently released its …

October 8, 2024

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Freedom Drive 2024 Brings Activists Together in Brussels Freedom Drive 2024 Brings Activists Together in Brussels

The 11th edition of the ENIL Freedom Drive ended last week, on 25 September. After over a year of planning, we finally got together …

October 4, 2024

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ENIL Freedom Drive sets new impulses for policies on Independent Living ENIL Freedom Drive sets new impulses for policies on Independent Living

The Freedom Drive 2024 was a vibrant space for the exchange of innovative practices to make progress towards Independent Living of disabled people. The …

Independent Living Map

Find out about Independent Living in your country

The Independent Living survey was launched in 2020, to find about the state of independent living around Europe. Its results are updated regularly and shared with policy and decision makers at the European level.

Access IL Map

Upcoming Events

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From Words to Practice

31/10/202431/10/2024

From Words to Practice

The Global Coalition on Deinstitutionalisation (GC-DI) has been running a webinar series entitled ‘From Words to Practice’, aiming to unpack different chapters of the …

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PAW – Personal Assistance Watch

PAW – Personal Assistance Watch

What is PAW? Personal Assistance Watch – PAW is a new space run by the European Network on Independent Living to discuss access to …

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Contact us

Meet the team!

Our people

Support our cause

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