The European Independent Living Day - May 5th

On 5 May, we will be celebrating the European Independent Living Day! For this occasion, we are organising an event from 10:30 to 12:30 CET.


Agenda


Moderated by Ines Bulic Cojocariu, Deputy Director, ENIL

Ines housekeeping rules – everyone is muted, questions in Q&A, captions, Sign language, recording and Facebook live


10:30-10:40Welcome and opening of the webinar: Jamie Bolling, ENIL Co-Chair
10:40-10:50Main findings of the 2nd Independent Living Survey, with a focus on Personal Assistance. Florian Senden Policy Coordinator, Nina Portolan, ENIL Youth Network member (TBC)



Access to Independent Living and Personal Assistance across Europe – short discussion with respondents to the survey



Access to Independent Living and Personal Assistance accross Europe – short discussion with respondents to the survey


What are the good practices we identified through the Independent Living Survey? What are the main changes that would need to happen in your country, for the Personal Assistance system/scheme to better support the right to Independent Living, and be in line with the CRPD? What additional information do we need to collect, if any?


10:50-11:00Germany – Uwe Frevert Interessenvertretung Selbstbestimmt Leben
11:00-11:10Malta – Marthese Mugliette
11:10 – 11:20France – Mathilde Fuchs (TBC)


Register here to take part in this event.



Background information


The aim of the Independent Living Survey, launched by the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) in June 2020, was to gather data that would allow us to establish to what extent disabled people in Europe had access to the right to live independently and to be included in the community. The survey was open until the end of September, and targeted disabled people and organisations of disabled people in the Council of Europe area. It was available in English, French and German.


The Independent Living Survey followed Personal Assistance tables, published by ENIL in 2013 and 2015, and has drawn heavily on the PA Checklist – A Tool for Assessing Personal Assistance Schemes, published in 2019. It included additional questions relating to implementation of Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The survey consisted of two sections: a general section on Independent Living, and detailed information about the personal assistance scheme/policy in a particular country or region. 


The information received through the online survey was used to draft 44 country sheets, with general information on Independent Living and a description of the personal assistance scheme/policy, where such exists. These are accompanied by a summary of the findings, in the Independent Living Report.