Yesterday, the Irish “National Platform of Self Advocates“, an independent self-advocacy organisation, announced they will be closing down due to a lack of funding.
According to the platform, after having received financial aid by a philanthropic organisation, the self-advocates had tried to get state funding since 2018, but without success: “We have been excluded from public funding streams because of the way our organisation is run. There are no accessible training programmes on how to become the type of organisation that the state will fund. Every solution that has been offered to us has asked us to hand over control of our organisation to non-disabled people, or to lose the independence we have taken years to build. We cannot allow this to happen.” The platform will shut down in January.
Inclusion Europe want to express our solidarity with the National Platform and a strong denunciation of the situation:
President Jyrki Pinomaa stated: “This development is truly unacceptable. States must provide funding for self-advocacy organisations which represent people most likely to be excluded from politics and other areas of decision-making.This turn of events is the ultimate demonstration of a situation where self-advocacy organisations are often the first to lose funding.”
Jyrki Pinomaa also wrote a letter of support for the platform.
Vice-president László Bercse added: “The UN CRPD clearly states that all people with disabilities have the right to be included in the community. Self-advocacy organisations fight for inclusion. If they stop working, we lose our chance for inclusion and equality. Governments should not let that happen.”
