QUASAR booklet published: Quality Matters!

QUASAR booklet published: Quality Matters!

Publication of the QUASAR booklet with findings from research, systems analysis, consultations and recommendations

Following the QUASAR multiplier event held on 5 December 2023 in Brussels, a new booklet “QUALITY MATTERS: A look at quality models, needs and trends in VET and social services supporting people with disabilities” is now available for download. This publication summarizes observations, findings and conclusions from desk research, analysis of quality assurance systems, and stakeholder consultations across Europe.

QUASAR research explored a broad variety of papers, reports and publications published in the past three years on the topic of quality assurance and quality in services. They provided insights in the practice of quality assurance in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Scotland, in trends at national and European context, and in policy developments and initiatives at EU level.

QUASAR analysis delivered an overview for four quality assurance systems, including EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) and EQUASS (European Quality in Social Services), the national NEW DIRECTIONS developed by the Irish Health Service Executive, and the ISO 9001 standard for Quality Management System.

QUASAR consultations, the project’s most important activity with regards to collecting information on quality in services, invited a large number of service users and service workers, we call them professionals in the booklet, to share their views and opinions regarding services delivered. The data collected from surveys, interviews and focus groups also allowed detecting differences of opinion between service users and service workers.

Improving Quality of Life, sense of community, confidence building, rights based approach and continuous improvements are some of the many aspects highlighted by the participants in the consultations. Questions were also raised to what extent the consultations were using a language accessible for respondents, and to what degree questions were geared towards certain types of disability.

The focus groups presented ideas for future considerations regarding quality in services, including staff empowerment and knowledge, ways of approaching quality as an organization, Quality of Life as a principle, continuous improvements, practical, easy-to-understand and less burdensome quality systems, and a learning community for service providers.

The QUASAR recommendations conclude this publication, with recommendations for systems and policies on quality, recommendations for funders and regulators, and recommendations for the EU institutions.

Find out more about the QUASAR results in “QUALITY MATTERS: A look at quality models, needs and trends in VET and social services supporting people with disabilities” by clicking HERE.

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The Project

TransitAction is an Erasmus + funded project with the aim to provide Young Adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (YAASD), Transition Coaches (TC) and other actors in their lives, new skills and innovative tools to support YAASD in the difficult transition from school or inactivity to employment.

EPR Joint Statement on Inclusive Labour Market

In the last months, the EU has been working to tackle the Corona Virus crisis. It entered into agreements and asked for help to the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, developed a new European Disability Strategy and the Action Plan on the Social Economy. Regarding the previous years, what has not changed is the exclusion from the labour market of people with disabilities.

On the other hand, those who have not lost hope are us at EPR and other non-governmental organizations:  The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), the European Disability Forum (EDF), the European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE), the European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR), the European Union for Supported Employment (EUSE) and Workability International join forces to call on the EU to act on the employment of persons with disabilities.

Together we signed a joint statement to ask the EU to include economic inclusion of people with disabilities in every sustainable development strategy and thus to ensure that every citizen has the right to decent work. We are not asking for anything new but only to respect what is promoted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD); as they support sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Read the joint statement here

Some Data

According to Eurostat, in 2018, around 50% of persons with disabilities were employed in EU countries, far below the average employment rate for non-disabled persons which is about 75%. Women with disabilities face double discrimination: only 47.8% of them are employed. Besides,  the pay gap for women with disabilities is twice as high as the pay gap for men with disabilities

What does an inclusive labour market for people with disabilities look like?

First of all, the group of people with disabilities is not homogeneous. Therefore,  EU Member States should take different measures to meet the diverse needs of individuals.

An inclusive market offers tailored measures to ensure that there are adequate means to build a career for people with disabilities. We do not exclude that disability often entails extra costs, but they serve to acknowledge human rights and the right to work. The disabled person who works contributes to the development of society, in addition to the fact that having a job will enable social inclusivity and better mental health. Furthermore, a leading role should be played by new technologies that may reveal new opportunities for workers with disabilities.

Call on the EU

The EU has the primary role of allowing economic access to all its citizens. Then we request:

• Boosting innovation in building an inclusive labour market;

• More opportunities for people who need additional support in the traditional labour market;

• More support for employers and encourage them to hire workers with disabilities;

• More knowledge and research to improve employment options;

• Collaboration among EU member states to open new opportunities and apply new systems of social protection;

• Sustainable funding, stable legal frameworks and structural involvement among EU countries for support services.

It is crucial that the EU takes into account these recommendations even in periods of economic uncertainty, to ensure that no employees are left behind or affected unfairly.

EU funding to support COVID-19 crisis recovery

Towards Inclusion

Ageing and Disability – have your say to the UN!

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, is currently preparing a report on the rights of older persons with disabilities that will be presented at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in October 2019. United Nations Special Rapporteurs are independent persons appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to examine a particular human rights issue and report back on a thematic or country-specific perspective in all parts of the world.

The study Ms. Devandas-Aguilar is preparing aims to identify and address specific human rights concerns faced by both people with disabilities who are ageing and older persons who acquire a disability.

The Special Rapporteur is now welcoming relevant inputs to the report from EU national governments, international and regional organisations, UN agencies, funds and programmes, organisations of and for persons with disabilities, civil society, national human rights institutions and other national independent mechanisms designated or established to monitor the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

>> You can find more information about the UN consultation and the questionnaire with specific information requests here.

>> Submissions to the UN should be in Word-format and in English, French or Spanish. The deadline for submitting is no later than 15 April 2019, and should be sent to the UN at this address sr.disability@ohchr.org.

Falling through the Cracks? Delays in Mental Health Services

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted on 13 December 2006 in New York. The CRPD is grounded in human rights and aims to promote key rights for people with disabilities. Currently in 2019, there are 177 ratifications to the CRPD and 92 ratifications to its Optional Protocol.

In Article 25, the CRPD highlights the right to health and health services. This includes accessible, quality and affordable health services. As per the CRPD’s purposefully-vague and inclusive definition of disability, the CRPD would also include the right to mental health and the right to mental health services.

As the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) puts it, “there is no health without mental health”. The right to health is a human right, and this includes the right to mental health.

And yet, mental health care in Europe commonly has long waiting lists and delayed access to services. In 2016, the EU Health Programme published a study on access to mental health care. According to the study:

The median time to receive a psychiatric assessment and appropriate psychotropic medication is between 7 and 30 days in most of EU countries, without differences regarding severity level. Longer waiting times are reported for access to psychotherapy, often requiring more than two months.

A study on the UK’s NHS found that 76% of young persons waited so long to be seen that their mental illness had worsened by the time they got to see a doctor. A similar study found that not only had mental health further deteriorated, but relationships break down and some individuals are forced to take time off from work – or give up a job entirely.

Delays and unreasonably long waiting lists have commonly been blamed on underfunding and understaffing. While that may be true, more resources should be allocated to promoting accessible, quality and affordable mental health care.

Mental health care that is delayed is mental health care that is inaccessible and of poor quality. As per Article 25 of the CRPD, inaccessible and poor quality health care breaches the fundamental right to health.

Improving access to mental health care in Europe should not be treated as optional. It is an obligation to the right to health and, more generally, fundamental human rights.

Photo by DarkoStojanovic on pixabay.