#IncludeNews bring you updates about work done for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in Europe. This post is updated during the month.
Previously on #IncludeNews: April 2023.
European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities
The event brought together 750 disability activists. The event is organised one year ahead of the European elections.
There were several speakers with intellectual disabilities during the day:
- Tamara Byrne, from Ireland, represented Inclusion Europe among the main speakers: I want people to treat me as an equal member of society
- Gayle Mugliette, from Malta, spoke about personal assistance and the right to vote.
- Florence Jablonski, from France, spoke about the situation of people with disabilities in France; The country was recently condemned for this.
Read more about the event:
- EDF website with all the information.
- EDF manifesto for the European elections.
- Videos from the event.
Zveza Sožitje celebrated 60th anniversary
Congratulations to our member in Slovenia on their big anniversary, and all the work they are doing for full rights and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
Read also: Interview with Jyrki Pinomaa for Slovenian public broadcaster.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in people with intellectual disabilities
New research paper:
- “Factors directly associated with intellectual disability and/or ASD were the sole cause of suffering described in 21% of cases and a major contributing factor in a further 42% of cases.
- Reasons for the EAS request included social isolation and loneliness (77%), lack of resilience or coping strategies (56%), lack of flexibility (rigid thinking or difficulty adapting to change) (44%) and oversensitivity to stimuli (26%).
- In one-third of cases, physicians noted there was ‘no prospect of improvement’ as ASD and intellectual disability are not treatable.”
Political participation of people with disabilities in the EU
Briefing (.pdf) by the European Parliament.
- “Voting in elections and standing for election are the two main and most direct forms of political participation. A 2011 position paper from Inclusion Europe describes the right to vote as
‘the most emblematic symbol of citizenship’, while noting that political participation in electoral processes also includes the opportunity to register as a candidate, to campaign, to be elected and to hold office.”
Accessibility
Cognitive accessibility features in iOS.
- “Assistive Access uses innovations in design to distil apps and experiences to their essential features in order to lighten cognitive load.”
Why Easy Read language is so important
- Quite informative video by DW news service.
Interview about web accessibility on Inclusion Europe Radio.
Hear our Voices! self-advocacy conference
The conference takes place in Tallinn, Estonia from 20 to 22 September 2023.
The main topic of the conference is: Make it real! How to promote self-advocacy in countries where it is not strong.
There will be workshops led by self-advocates, who share their experience in different ways self-advocacy works:
- How they came to be a self-advocate.
- What it takes to organise self-advocacy groups and organisations.
- What a good support to self-advocate looks like.
- Where self-advocates speak to share their views and knowledge.
There will be discussions about what governments and organisations need to do to support and include self-advocates.
- Learn more.
- Register here (participants from outside Estonia).
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