That was the title of the conference presenting the coming book on modern disability services to which ENIL has contributed this year. The book has been written by Dr Andrew Power a former member of the research staff at the National University of Ireland Galway’s Centre for Disability Law and Policy (www.nuigalway.ie/cdlp) and will be…
My name is Suvad Zahirović. I was born in Brcko,Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31st May 1962. I am blind since birth. I graduated at Faculty for political sciences, at Belgrade University in 1989. I am living in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with my wife and daughter. What is your personal experience of disability? In my…
The Essl Foundation, the World Future Council and Bank Austria are working together to organize an International Conference on January 22-23, 2012, Vienna, Austria on future just policies which successfully implement the rights of people with disabilities. Download brochure (PDF) (TEXT ONLY) DO YOU WANT TO COOPERATE? The Essl Foundation, the World Future Council would like to…
To add your signature please email mail@dpac.uk.net, or meri.goodman@hotmail.co.uk ‘DPAC Independent Living Fund letter Thousands of disabled people rely on funding from the Independent Living Fund to enable them to live independently with choice and control over their lives. ILF users have been left shocked and extremely anxious since it was announced in 2010…
When we were at the beginning of our struggle for our right to personal assistance and we started looking for role models we began by reading up on the history of the independent living movement. We were very surprised to find out how similar the struggle these pioneers faced was to our humble beginnings. The…
It has been 20 years since the first attempts to implement Independent Living in Slovenia and 15 years since the foundation of YHD – Association for theory and culture of handicap, which is the only organization providing for independent living and personal assistance according to internationally accepted principles and the principles of the European Network…
CIL Serbia from its foundation has been working on providing the condition for PA service establishing and development. The result of the 2-year pilot project from 2003 and 2005 and local advocacy activists is that 4 municipalities (Sombor, Smederevo, Jagodina and Leskovac) recognized the importance of the service and allocate the funds for it. The…
Disabled people need the kind of welfare state which is not a mere ‘safety net’ but which invests in tackling disabling barriers and in providing resources to meet the additional costs related to impairment. Read the complete document here
If we speak about inspirational leaders in the Independent living movement we quickly come to Dr Adolf Ratzka. In 2007 he spoke in Barcelona on the dependency culture towards people with disabilities and how to break it. The title of his speech was: “Independent Living for people with disabilities: from patient to citizen and customer”….
One of the greatest experts on Independent Living, John Evans, uses every opportunity to warn people with disabilities, policymakers and other stakeholders about the effects of the cuts in public spending that are going on. In many European countries governments take inhuman, irrational and contra productive decisions to cut budgets that are necessary to make…
The wave of inhuman and inefficient policy decisions that hit people with disabilities disproportionally in many European countries is still on a roll and is affecting or threatening our Quality of Live and our Human Rights. Naturally this can make you feel sad and victimized, … but if we don’t stand up against this, no…
Independent Living movement has inspired many people for several decades. Ideas and views who used to be controversial at first have been affirmed by good practices, disability studies and political documents (e.g. UNCRPD) time after time. This success has lead to an increasing number of cases of abuse or ‘hijacking’ of Independent Living terminology. It’s…
As you all know the financial and economical crisis is hitting people with disabilities in a disproportionately way. Through our network of independent living activists in Europe we are receiving alarming messages about austerity measures and cuts in independent living services and personal assistance. Fighting this negative tendency is one of the main focuses for…
The Study aims to provide States with detailed information on the bodies set up under Article 33 CRPD so that they can take stock of the experiences of other States. It also purports to assist international human rights mechanisms, including the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in providing guidance on the…
Cuts to Independent Living services across Europe, slow progress towards de-institutionalisation, abuse of disabled people in institutional care, and some advancement in the right to Personal Assistance. This is a summary of 2011 by the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) on the occasion of 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. A…
The first ever World Report on Disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank, will be presented in the European Parliament, Where: Josef Antall building, room 6Q1 When: 7th December 12:30 – 15:00 The event will be hosted by Dr Adam Kosa, MEP and EDF Acting Director, Javier Güemes will be speaking. Other speakers include: László Andor, Commissioner for Employment,…
The Independent Living movement in Sweden has a long history of demonstrations. Now it’s time to take on the placards again and rescue assistance! Country after country uses the economic crisis to cut the funding of reforms of personal assistance. In Sweden the savings proposals is threatening the world’s best personal assistance legislation. Due to…
Jenny Wilder, PhD in Psychology, Senior Lecturer in Special Needs Education Mälardalen University, and her colleagues started an inquiry in 2010 that will continue for three years, called PFA-CHILD, on how children with considerable disabilities participate in different family activities. The JAG Association inSweden is collaborating withJönköpingUniversity and two other organizations in this project. …
By Josefin Sterner, intern at the JAG Association A charting of the existence of institutions and personal assistance in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland shows that though the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have been signed and soon ratified by all of these countries the result vastly varies…
We have previously written about the model agency for people with disabilities that JAG started three years ago. Two of the models, Stefan Nilsson and Frida Gustavsson, is currently present in a cross-border exhibition of photographs by famous Swedish artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin. The aim of the exhibition is to challenge norms. The title of…
