EU Polish Presidency holds event on inclusion of persons with disabilities

EU Polish Presidency holds event on inclusion of persons with disabilities

On 28 March 2025, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU held a Conference in Brussels on “Raising awareness of the potential of persons with disabilities in various areas of social life and professional activities”, which the EPR Secretariat attended.

Three inspiring panel discussions took place on the following topics:

1. The professional potential of persons with disabilities
2. The social opportunities of persons with disabilities by building an equal image of people with disabilities on television, radio, press and social media
3. Promoting independent living, integration and improving support services for independent living by Member States

Throughout these sessions, key messages were expressed by activists and organisations:

• In this new age of digitalisaiton and AI, where the labor market is more and more automatised, persons with disabilities must not be left behind, which was noted by Dovile Juodkaite, EESC Rapporteur for an opinion on the Inclusion of people with disabilities in the context of the development of new technologies and AI;
• The importance of representation of persons with disabilities in media to break any stigmas existing towards persons with disabilities and to inspire persons with disabilities, as underlined by Avalon Foundation and Jan Mela;
• There is still an important amount of work to be done towards deinstitutionalisation and to ensure independent living, as expressed by Ana Pelaez Narvaez, General Secretary of EDF.

Finally, Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, called for the breaking of stereotypes and prejudice towards persons with disabilities, urged all employers in Europe to create accessible and inclusive jobs, and noted the importance of independent living to ensure human dignity.

More information on the Conference is available here.