The neurodiversity concept has inspired many people with new found confidence. At ENIL we are proud that the term neurodiversity was invented by autistic activists connected to the Independent Living Movement.
For ENIL you are an essential part of our cross-disability movement. In line with the social model of disability, it is barriers erected by society that are disabling people with neurodivergent impairments. Being disabled does not mean you are wrong. It is society which is wrong for making you believe that. Yes, we have support needs and we are surrounded by countless societal barriers but those are far from inevitable.
Neurodivergent people suffer from countless societal barriers. We don´t have statistics yet but the United Nations have very often documented that autistic people are strongly affected by institutionalisation. Because of the violence of this system, survivors fight a lifelong battle with their trauma.
We frequently receive individual accounts of neurodivergent people struggling to cope without support, being pushed into sheltered employment or being worried about what they will do if they lose their benefits.
However, we don’t have to live with the way society is treating us. If we stand together as one cross-disability movement, we can make sure every disabled person, including autistic people, people with ADHD or bipolar people, get to live on a basis equal to others. There have been clear successes in the struggle for fair societies and if we stand fast, we can make it happen.
ENIL and our member organisations are fighting for the introduction of personal budget and personal assistance systems throughout Europe. We want the waiting lists that exist in some countries, for example in Belgium, to be abolished! We want you to be able to purchase the services you need, that assistance is available in practica and that it adjusts to your needs.
We are preparing to start a EU wide campaign for joint standards on personal budgets.
We want every disabled person to have an income that allows you to live well, for example income from quality employment. That is why we are fighting to make sure there is funding for supported employment, so that you can get personal assistance at work, that employers get the support they need to provide the accommodations you need. You can get the dream job you want if we make the political change happen.
ENIL is leading an advocacy campaign to change EU legislation on state aid, so funding will be redirected from sheltered into supported employment.
Since its inception in the 1950s people with psychosocial impairments have been part of the Independent Living Movement because we are affected by the same barriers as people with physical impairments. Today many people with neurodiverse/psychosocial impairments see themselves as disabled and part of the cross-disability movement because by reclaiming this term instead of banishing it we can also reclaim our dignity. By recognising disability as imposed by society we gain a tool we can use to liberate ourselves. The alliance between people of all impairments is nothing if not enriching.
Neurodivergent people within the Independent Movement are clear: We stand together will all disabled, we will not be divided.
