News

The UK Government’s legal aid reforms have come under heavy criticism from a senior judge this week after it was revealed that a couple with intellectual disabilities were not able to claim financial assistance supporting legal costs.

European Disability Forum (EDF) President Yannis Vardakastanis and Acting Director Javier Güemes have visited the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly to highlight the need for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) to be a central aspect in European Union policy-making.

A couple with intellectual disabilities from the United Kingdom has won compensation in a unique court case after their new-born child was taken away by social services.

Polish Member of the European Parliament Marek Plura has announced a film-screening event focusing on the social exclusion of people with disabilities throughout Europe.

A music festival for people with intellectual disabilities is set to take place in Norway for the seventh successive year in 2015.

Inclusion Europe has launched a new website called ‘Choices,’ which presents a range of supported decision-making models for people with intellectual and other disabilities.

Inclusion Europe has announced its fourth edition of the Round Table on Legal Capacity, which will take place on 27 November in Strasbourg. Legal capacity is an important issue affecting people with intellectual disabilities today.

The Icelandic Penal Code has, at long last, been updated to exclude discriminatory terms to describe people with disabilities. Among the many examples, the term “idiot,” which features in Article 222 of the Penal Code, has now been replaced by the phrase “individual with a developmental disorder.”

The European Forum for Research in Rehabilitation (EFRR) has announced that it will host its 13th Annual Congress at the Marina Congress Center in Helsinki, Finland on 6-9 May 2015.

A European Work Forum on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in European Union (EU) member states will take place on 22-23 October in Brussels.