Editorial Update
Welcome to the latest edition of ENIL,Independent Living News!
In this edition, we bring you news from Western Europe. The European Committee of Social Rights in Strasbourg has stated that the Belgian Government does not provide enough support for disabled people. The verdict came after a compliant from a coalition of about twenty different disabled people's organisations and parents associations including Onafhankelijk Leven- Independent Living Flanders and Ensemble Vie Autonome- CIL Wallonia. Also from the West Region, you can read an article from Professor Gerard Quinn,Centre for Disability, Law and Policy, NUI Galway with distressing news from Ireland. A mother was left with no option after cumulative cutbacks -including cutbacks to transport- to place her disabled daughter in residential care.
Also in this edition you can read the most recent articles from our 2013 Freedom Drive Campaign which is calling on the European Countries and the European Union to take a number of actions. One of these actions is to safeguard support services for disabled people against the cuts. Mary's story on the proposed closure of the Independent Living Fund in the UK- a violation of Article 19 but also a decision taken without proper consultation or understanding of the impacts, nor any clear monitoring of the impacts by the Government which is in violation of Article 4 of the UN CRPD can be read in this edition of our newsletter. We also bring you Jaka's story in relation to Article 5 of the UN CRPD on Equality and Non-Discrimination.
Kapka Panayotova is one of ENL's Board members and we are delighted to induct her into the ENIL Hall of Fame. She embodies the spirit of determination and has encouraged many people across Europe to live self-determined lives- to live their lives as they choose. In this edition, we bring you an interview with Kapka and she tells us about her own personal background and where she got the inspiration to set up the Center for Independent Living in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Please remember there is still time to register for this year's Strasbourg Freedom Drive, please click here!
We hope you find this edition of the ENIL, Independent Living News, enlightening and motivating!
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Role Model; Sergei Drozdovskiy |
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Sergei Drozdovskiy works for the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Minsk, Belarus. He was born in 1973 and graduated from the Belarusian State Polytechnic University (Engineering). He has worked with civil society organisations, as a Project Coordinator and in NGO Management. He has been disabled since 1996. In 1997, he was one of the founders of PA “Republican Association of Wheelchair-bound Disabled”. He was Chairperson of this organisation from 2001-2011. He has also been a member of the Republican Interdepartmental Council on disability issues. Sergei has also taught at the State Institute of Management and Social Technologies of BSU and has taught courses in "Social Protection of disabled" and the "Science of Rehabilitation". |
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Hall of Fame: Kapka Panayotova |
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Kapka Panayotova, is founder of CIL- Sofia and has been instrumental in spreading the philosophy of Independent Living in Bulgaria. She is one of ENIL's Board members and we are delighted to induct Kapka into the ENIL Hall of Fame. She embodies the spirit of determination and has encouraged many people across Europe to live self-determined lives- to live their lives as they choose. In this interview, Kapka tells us about her own personal background and where she got the inspiration to set up the Center for Independent Living in Sofia.
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2013 Freedom Drive Campaign: Article 4- General Obligations |
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Article 4 says that all states must work to recognise the human rights of disabled people without discrimination including taking into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of disabled people in all policies and programmes. Article 4 on general obligations is an important article as it supports all the specific CRPD articles and makes Governments responsible for implementing them. It is one of the key articles in helping bring national governments to account.
The UK signed up to the Convention in 2009. Since 2010 and imposed austerity, disabled people have seen new policies and programmes which do everything but recognise the human rights of disabled people or the CRPD, under the agenda of austerity.
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Europe condemns Belgium for their lack of support for disabled people |
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The European Committee of Social Rights in Strasbourg has stated that the Belgian Government doesn’t provide enough support for disabled people. The verdict came after a complaint from a coalition of about 20 different disabled people’s organisations and parents associations, including ‘Onafhankelijk Leven’ (Independent Living Flanders) and ‘Ensemble Vie Autonome’ (CIL Wallonia).
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"Personal Assistance is our Existence" Photograph Exhibition |
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The opening of an exhibition of photographs by Klaudija Poropat entitled 'Personal Assistance is our Existence' was held on Thursday, 30th May 2013 at 5 p.m. at Slovene Ethnographic Museum in cooperation with YHD – Association for theory and Culture.
Documentary photographs by Klaudija Poropat, videos and personal objects with stories of disabled people and personal assistance users were available for viewing. The project came about under the mentorship of Meta Krese and Arne Hodalič supported by a scholarship awarded by Ekvilib Institute under the art for social change initiative Globalna SOFA.
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ENIL's intern Gatis Caunitis tells us about his time in Sweden! |
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My name is Gatis Caunitis and I am from Latvia. I have spent a couple of months as an intern working with Jamie Bolling in the ENIL Office in Harnösand, Sweden. This was my first experience working in a European level organization. My experience in the disability field and knowledge about Independent Living helped me during this internship.
When I received an email from Jamie with the offer to become an ENIL intern in Sweden, it did not take me a very long time to make the decision! But before I packed my bags and headed off to Sweden there were some other important tasks for me on my ‘To do list’. One of these was to find funding for myself and an assistant to undertake the internship in Sweden.
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Ireland: Mother forced to place daughter in residential care |
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Most people applaud when the business case for change coincides with human rights. Its good to do the right thing and even better when both individuals and the taxpayer benefits. Or at least one would have thought so until reading the distressing news that a mother was left with no option after cumulative cutbacks – including cutbacks to transport - to place her disabled daughter in residential care. The cost of such care is generally a multiple of the cost of supporting people to lead independent lives and be integrated in their communities. No one, it seems, is doing the sums. The result is that one arm (or multiple arms) of the State takes away and higher costs ensue. This is utterly irrational – a symptom of a system that lacks both critical intelligence as well as moral sensibility. |
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2013 Freedom Drive Campaign: Article 5- Equality and Non-Discrimination |
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Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stipulates that signatory states "shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds. Through the story of Jaka Subic we demonstrate how Article 5 of the UN CRPD is not being upheld in Slovenia.
Jaka Šubic was born on 20th of June 1982 in Kranj, Slovenia. Since the age of eight years old he has used an electric wheelchair. He was able attend primary school in his hometown Žiri, but had to transfer to an institution for disabled persons in Kamnik (60 kms from Žiri) to attend secondary school. Despite a lot of effort, he and his parents were unable to locate an accessible school close to his own home town. |
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