Kamil Goungor was one of the trainers at the “My Rights: Independent living,
activism and participation for young people with Spina Bifida and/or Hydrocephalus”
training, organized by International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus
(IF) from 5thto 7thOctober, in Lisbon, Portugal. Participants were 11 young
representatives of IF’s European member associations, from various countries
across the continent. They took part in different kinds of activities, learnt about their
rights and how to advocate for them with various tools (i.e. UN CRPD).
Kamil’s role – apart from co-facilitating the training – was to introduce the
participants to the concept of Independent Living and its philosophy. He explained
that all disabled people, no matter of their impairment, can live independently in the
community with the right support (personal assistance, supported decision-making
etc), having choice and control over their lives as everyone else. Moreover, he spoke
on how to create a CIL, based on his personal experience with “i-living” in Greece,
and showed their short animated film“Independent Living means…”. The participants
showed great interest in these topics and fruitful discussions took place.
