Successful Policy Seminar on Supported Decision-Making in Portugal

Inclusion Europe and our member from Portugal called Fenacerci organised a big meeting. It was called “Training opportunies for peer supporters with intellectual disabilities”and it took place on 20 October 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal. Around 50 people came to talk about peer support. The Secretary of State for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and the President of the National Rehabilitation Institute also came. Everyone listened to other people sharing their views and experience. They said that peers are useful for supporting decision-making and inclusion. This project will have it’s final meeting in Brussels, Belgium on 7, 8 and 9 November 2016 which you can read more about here.

On 20 October 2016, Inclusion Europe’s Portuguese member FENACERCI organised a policy seminar in the framework of the TOPSIDE+ project:Training Opportunities for Peer Supporters with Intellectual Disabilities in Europe in Lisbon. The seminar was attended by more than 50 people, including people with intellectual disabilities and professionals, but also representatives of political parties and other governmental and non-governmental organisations. The event also was attended by the Secretary of State for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and the President of the National Rehabilitation Institute.

The Secretary of State expressed the view that the support models for decision-making for people with intellectual disabilities could independently refer to and include support by peers (people with disabilities). The widespread expression of all participants in the panel discussion was that peer support, being natural, must be taken into account when developing models for the inclusion in the community and citizen participation.

The participants also listened to the experiences of a peer-supporter with intellectual disabilities talking about the impact it has on people with intellectual disabilities. They see their life experiences recognized and validated as support tools for decision-making of their peers.

The project will have its closing conference on 8 November at the European Parliament in Brussels, where Policy Recommendations will be launched – at national and European level – to promote and recognize the support from peers in inclusion and support for decision-making. There will also be a space for interaction among people who participated in the project and the Members of the European Parliament, the presence of MEP Nuno Melo is already confirmed.