27 April 2012: demonstration "Parachutes/bailouts for all!" from the Federal Chancellery to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. More info.

2nd - 4th May 2012: first European Mind Change Conference "Social inclusion of people with disabilities" in Villach, Austria.  

Jamie Bolling, Executive Director of ENIL will give a keynote address on "New Policy to Promote Independent Living: Change Needed to Progress De-Institutionalisation, Community Living and Personal Assistance.".  

More info.

Rights of disabled people may be at risk, says Human Rights Committee.

The disability movement / Independent Living movement of the UK is very pleased about the outcome of this report. It was exactly what we needed after almost two years of challenging the government on how the cuts and austerity measures were affecting disabled people's ability to live independently.

The report is highly critical of the government's measures in cutting back services, and the ILF (Independent Living Fund) which is putting disabled people at severe risk for the future.

This is by far the most comprehensive critique of an EU Member State policies which are affecting disabled people severely. No other governmental level report has come out in Europe highlighting the impact the austerity measures are having on Independent Living. This report can be very useful for the Independent Living movement throughout Europe in challenging their current austerity policies.

The question is whether the UK government will take this seriously or just ignore it.

" The right of people with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community".

Issue Paper commissioned and published by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

Download it here

He couldn't have done worse than this. The BTP-Bund spread going up and down, the European Central Bank, a crisis in welfare: explain it how you want but at the end of the day there is a scapegoat that has always been used and that's the weak. 

In the middle of this, disabled people are to be kept even further away from the rest of society but nevertheless under firm control. We are seen as a problem that has to be increasingly managed as the population ages. This year the situation is even worse, with cuts pushed through based on the invented notion of "fake invalids"...

Finland has a plan to close down all institutions for people with intellectual disabilities by 2020 and that by 2016 no more than 500 persons will be living in institutions.  

The close-down of these institutions is a necessity for Finland to be able to ratify the UN convention of the rights of persons with disabilities.  

The spring meeting of the AER Social Policy and Public Health Committee took place in Joensuu, Finland on 19-21 March 2012.  The meeting was an invitation of the region of North Karelia. AER members joined the Conference on perspectives on ageing that was organized in the framework of the European Year 2012 and focused on health and long term care with workshops on equal access to quality care, multi-sector cooperation and empowerment of the users in the development of products and services. 

This conference was held on March 20th and launched AER's work on Active and Healthy Ageing, a key political priority for the Committee in 2012 and part of AER's commitments towards the European Year 2012. 

Over the past three months, the European Commission has run a public consultation on a European Accessibility Act. The Disabled People's Rights unit within the Directorate-General for Justine, who are leading the consultation, explained that this process is part of the preparatory data collection that will underpin the impact assessment for the development of a European Accessibility Act (EAA). The objective of the EAA will be to improve the accessibility of goods and services in the European market.  

The Office for the Rights of Persons with a Disability (ORPD) in Minsk invited ENIL's executive director Jamie Bolling to Belarus. The visit took place between 25th and 29th February 2012. The theme for the visit was "What is Independent Living and why is it needed?" The message was communicated through several gatherings bringing together disability organisations and other stakeholders.  

Danijel Spasojević

The consortium partners are currently collecting innovative practice examples and reviewing academic and non-academic literature in 13 languages.  ENIL is focusing on papers in English, French and Croatian.

In our last newsletter, we asked for examples of innovative services that you either receive or know of.  We are now asking you to support our efforts in collecting and reviewing appropriate literature.

Please let us know if you have evaluations, user/beneficiary surveys, service specifications, and/or other documents that you would like to share with us that relate to innovative social services.

Also, if you have ideas on how you can support our effort and contribute to Europe's knowledge about innovation in the social sector, please contact our researcher Sanja Nikolin at sanja.nikolin@multiservis.rs , copying in ENIL's Executive Director Jamie Bolling, j.bolling@enil.eu.

We will soon be coming to the end of the data collection phase, so please hurry with your contribution!

The next time you hear from us, it will be us sharing what we've got with you.  We hope that you will find our materials and examples as inspiring and fascinating as we do.

HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICER 

EDF is seeking a Human Rights Officer with good knowledge and experience on human rights, non-discrimination, and equality including gender equality issues. The ideal candidate is:

• committed to a human rights/social model approach to disability
• understanding and knowledge of the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
• with a good understanding of working in the political and civil society environment
• He/she is able to work effectively in English and French and to assimilate and communicate information.
• The knowledge of EU policies, EU institutions and procedures will be an important asset.

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is the European umbrella organisation composed of and led by persons with disabilties, representing the interests of 80 million disabled persons in Europe. The mission of EDF is to ensure persons with disabilities full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in Europe. EDF works closely with the institutions of the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

More information on EDF website here

At the European Network on Independent Living we were very sorry to hear of the passing of Prof. Jim Mansell, from the Tizard Centre at the University of Kent on 13 March. Jim was a member of the Advisory Council of the European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL) and was very active at the European level in advocating for the right to live in the community for all. He was a great supporter of ECCL since its establishment in 2005 and has contributed hugely to putting pressure on governments across Europe to close down institutions for people with disabilities and develop services in the community. Jim will be greatly missed by all. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Unfortunately Professor Colin Barnes resigned from the ENIL board finding it difficult to juggle all his engagements with retirement on the way. The existing board following ENIL's constitution voted unanimously to fill the vacant spot with Germano Tosi from Turin, Italy. Germano has been a member of ENIL since 2010.   

As a young disabled person, what does 'Independent Living' mean to you? 

Thank you,

Miro Griffiths

Member of the Project Programming Team

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