Following on from a successful regional members’ meeting in Poland in 2019, ENIL hosted an online members’ meeting on Monday 14 September, with an accompanying webinar on “Independent Living for All” on Tuesday 15 September. The two-day event was well-attended, and questions and debates were lively. Personal Assistance was in the focus of the discussions, with issues like de-institutionalisation and the COVID-19 pandemic to follow.
The event of 14 September took the form of two presentations on the overriding theme of Personal Assistance (PA), with ENIL’s European Solidarity Corps Volunteer, Nina Portolan, presenting the initial findings of ENIL’s Independent Living Survey. Adolf Ratzka, a pioneer of the Independent Living Movement in Europe, focused on how to effectively advocate for PA legislation. Both topics opened up a wide array of questions, successfully leading into our one-hour group discussion session on regional Independent Living challenges and the effect of Covid-19, moderated by regional coordinators from 8 different countries. This was followed by concluding plenary feedback and discussion.
You can read more about the online members’ meeting here.
On 15 September, ENIL hosted a webinar on how to ensure Independent Living for all disabled people. This topic was selected in a survey, which was sent to members in June. Among the speakers were activists and advocates of the social model of disability, the deinstitutionalisation movement, and the disability movement. They used their knowledge and their own experiences to address the theme of the webinar, with the discussion following a Question and Answer format.
You can read more about the webinar on Independent Living for all here.
