On 5th May, disabled people, friends and allies across Europe will be marking the 7th European Independent Living Day. This year’s theme, proposed by the European Network on Independent Living, is LIBERTY. By choosing LIBERTY as the 5th May theme, we want to raise awareness about the fact that disabled people are often deprived of…
Independent Living means freedom of choice. This includes the right to travel freely, regardless of your access needs. Unfortunately, disabled people still face many barriers and challenges when using the transport in European cities. Inaccessible transportation makes it more difficult for all people with access needs to go to work, go to school or just…
Last week, Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli announced that a new Disability Equality Strategy will be put in place, replacing the one that expires in 2020. The work to shape the new strategy has begun and today, the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL Committee) debated a draft resolution on the EU disability…
Today, disabled people all over the world celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Just one day after the new European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, takes office, the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) highlights five key demands of Europe’s Independent Living movement for the new Commission. Rather than the usual…
On behalf of the newly elected Board of the European Network on Independent Living, we would like to say hi to all our members and Newsletter subscribers, and thank our members for trusting us to lead the organisation in the next two years. As newly elected Co-chairs, we wish to tell you a bit about…
Brussels, 2 October – Over 400 disabled people and allies from all over Europe have gathered in Brussels this morning tomarch in protest between the European Commission’s main headquarters, the Berlaymont, and the European Parliament building in Brussels. The activists, led by the European Network on Independent Living – ENIL, have one main demand: that…
ENIL’s 2018 Annual Report is out! This report provides an overview of our activities and achievements last year. We hope that by reading it, you will get a sense of the effort undertaken by ENIL to change status quo. Despite being a small organization facing various challenges (like for example the loss of the European…
The 6th European Independent Living Day was celebrated in Europe (and beyond), and was a very successful one! Although this year 5th May was on Sunday (a non working day), disabled people and their allies celebrated it in more than 25 countries, showing that the Independent Living movement is strong and active! As always, the…
One month after the elections, at ENIL we would like to make a few observations about the results. First of all, we congratulate our Board member Stelios Kympouropoulos (Greece) for his election to the European Parliament, and look forward to working with him in the next 5 years. Stelios will be leaving the Board following his appointment…
The 6th European Independent Living Day was celebrated widely in Europe and beyond. Although this year the 5th May was on Sunday (a day of rest for many), disabled people and their allies in more than 20 countries celebrated, showing that the Independent Living movement is strong and active! It showed also that it is…
With less than a month until the European Elections, the 6th European Independent Living Day will call on disabled people to go out and vote and at the same time highlight barriers to political participation. Barriers can be inaccessible polling stations, but also a total deprivation of the right to vote. To live independently, disabled…
On 25 April, the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA), in partnership with Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and the TUC Disabled Workers Committee, launched ROFA’s Independent Living strategy, titled ‘Independent Living for the Future – Our vision for a national independent living support system’. The launch took place in the Parliament and was hosted by…
In less than 3 months, there will be elections for new Members of the European Parliament (2019 – 2024) in all EU Member States. In preparation for the elections, ENIL has prepared an Elections Toolkit. The Toolkit is aimed at disabled people, disabled people’s organisations and our allies. In the Toolkit, you will find: ✓…
At the end of 2018, the Independent Living Association (Associazione Vita Indipendente ONLUS) held three protests for independent living in Florence, Italy. The protests took place on 20 and 30 November, as well as on 18 December in front of the Regional Council of Tuscany (which is something like a regional parliament), and received significant…
This January, a one-man committee submitted a proposal about the Act on Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments to the Swedish government. The proposal entails such severe changes to current rights that – if implemented – big institutions will be built in Sweden again. Above all, there are three suggestions that would jeopardise…
On the 24th of July, the Department for International Development of the UK (DFID), the Government of Kenya and the International Disability Alliance (IDA) organized the first Global Disability Summit in London. ENIL was represented at the Summit by Zara Todd and our Board Member Nadia Hadad was there as a member of the European…
On June 8, 9 and 10 synchronized marches took place in 15 Italian cities to protest against the lack of funding for personal assistance. Despite several laws for the inclusion of disabled people in the society and the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Italy is still lacking a national program for independent living
ENIL’s 2017 Annual Report is out! The Annual Report seeks to provide an overview of ENIL’s activities and achievements last year. It looks at the extent to which the organisation has reached its external and internal objectives, and sets out the main activities under the following priority areas: awareness raising, influencing policy and legislation, building…
May 5th is very soon upon us and we would like to remind you of how you can get involved and express our thanks to all those who have let us know about events they are organising! A real buzz is building, with exciting things happening from Norway to Montenegro, from Portugal to Lithuania. The…
The European Independent Living Day on the 5th May is once again upon us! This year’s theme is ”Barriers to Independent Living”.
