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…
2018 was a difficult year for ENIL – just before the year began, we learnt that we had lost the European Commission operating grant, which we had for a number of years. So, at the beginning of the year, we had to say goodbye to our Director Zara Todd, who had joined us just a…
In the November issue of the Newsletter we wrote about the protest of Eduardo Jorge in front of the Portuguese Assembly on 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Eduardo, who lives in a nursing home, is fighting for his right to choose where and with whom to live. During the protest, he…
How to set up the system of Personal Assistance in Hungary for persons with disabilities In the Hungarian disability movement, great work was done by many disabled persons and their allies, for example György Könczei, Pál Gadó, Gábor Zalabai, László Hajdi (ZALABAI P-NÉ 1997). Hungarian IL Centers (ÖÉK) were organized in the ‘90s with the…
Building partnerships for the implementation of SDGs and the CRPD As part of this year’s European Disability and Development Week (EDDW), ENIL organised an event on Promoting Independent Living through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was part of a series of events, addressing disability issues in the context of development cooperation, coordinated by the International…
It is normal to say that we are still far from Sweden, but we are already very close to Sweden in some areas. At least in Alytus, Lithuania and at least regarding personal assistance services. Is it hard to believe? It is possible, when you want and try to connect the community to a common…
Fifteen years after the first Independent Living Congress in Tenerife, Spain (2003), it was time to reflect on the experience of over 15 years of work – the successes and the mistakes – and the effect these changes have had on people’s lives. ENIL was pleased to be able to support the Congress, which was…
This week, ENIL was contacted by Eduardo Jorge, a disabled activist from Portugal, who asked us to share information about his protest in front of the Portuguese Assembly on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on 3 December. Eduardo lives in a nursing home and decided to protest in order to…
On 22 – 23 November, the Albanian Disability Rights Federation organised a conference entitled “Translating generalities of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into tangible actions – Strengthening networks and advocacy”. The event was organised in cooperation with the European Disability Forum and UNICEF, as part of a project they have been…
On November 8, Centre LIVING UPRIGHT (CLU) brought almost all the people who contributed to the personal assistance service in Novi Sad together in order to discuss its outcomes. Unfortunately, personal assistance in Novi Sad is still a project-based service, funded through the lottery funds, with the amount which cannot be predicted until the end…
The second annual meeting of the Disability High Level Group took place in Brussels on the 25th October 2018. Organised by the Disability Unit at DG Employment, the meeting was attended by representatives of the Member States (from the Ministries or permanent representations in Brussels) and EU level NGOs involved in promoting the rights of…
Veronika Kallandar, an active member of the Swedish left party and the Swedish Independent Living movement, left her wheel prints and voice echoing in the European Parliament this month, when she spoke on Human Rights of disabled people and the right to personal assistance for all disabled citizens in Europe. The event, titled “Human Rights:…
On 25 – 26 October, the Spanish Federation of Independent Living (FEVI), in cooperation with ENIL, is organising the 2nd Congress on Independent Living. It will be held in Valencia, in English and Spanish, and broadcast online on the Congress website. This article provides some background to the conference, with information about the Independent Living…
In a landmark ruling of 25 July 2018, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has concluded that the Finnish municipality of Espoo must award personal assistance to a Finnish national pursuing a law degree in Tallinn, Estonia, as EU citizens cannot be denied their right to freedom of movement. The appellant was originally denied personal…
In cooperation with Inclusion Europe, we drafted a Fact sheet on Independent Living for People with Intellectual Disabilities. The new fact sheet covers the questions of whether people with intellectual disabilities can benefit from independent living, personal assistance, and how they can be supported in making decisions and being in control of their life. Download…
The survey on personal assistance(PA), conducted by ENIL in the period 19 January – 4 March 2018, contained 138 characteristics of PA, arranged into 5 categories: Context, Funding, Needs assessment, Provision, and Working conditions. Participants were asked to assess each characteristic on a scale from -3 (maximal hindrance of choice and control) to +3 (maximal…
From 18-19 June, ENIL attended the European Social Fund (ESF) Transnational Platform Seminar in Brussels. This seminar is the annual conference of the different ESF Thematic Networks (TNs), which were set up to ensure cooperation between different countries – NGOs and public authorities – when it comes to the use of ESF. There are 8…
After co-hosting a seminar on the topics of the UN Open Ended Working Group on Ageing in April and ENIL’s submission to the working group, AGE Platform Europe continued the conversation at their Annual Conference on June 6th. ENIL was again represented by EVS Volunteer Miriam Graute and Advocacy Officer Frank Sioen to ensure that…
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
