Manfred Srb, one of ENIL’s co-founders at the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 1989, and a member of ENIL’s first Board passed away on 8 January 2022, a few days after his wife Annemarie Srb Rössler. In his native Austria and other German-speaking countries, Manfred was a well-known and successful advocate for disability rights, in particular, for personal assistance. During his eight years in the Austrian Parliament, as an MP for the Green Party, he went on hunger strike to draw attention to the need for an Austrian Long Term Care Insurance that includes persons with disabilities. Manfred Srb’s strong commitment to disability rights, his warm humour, and ability to convincingly explain disabled people’s requirements and their solutions for everyone made him a respected and well-liked leader, role model, and public champion. Manfred was honoured on Austrian national television only a couple of days ago.
At ENIL, we wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to Manfred’s family, friends and the Independent Living movement in Austria. We thank Manfred for his great contribution to the fight for Independent Living in Europe.
Read Manfred’s obituary (in German), published by BIZEPS, the Vienna Center for Independent Living, which he and his friends started.
