European Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024

European Day of Persons with Disabilities 2024

On 28 and 29 of November, the European Day of Persons with Disabilities Conference took place in Brussels, Belgium. This was a chance to reflect about the achievements attained thus far within the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030.

The speakers brought up the topics of rights, quality of life, independent living and assistive technology amongst others. These are at the heart of EPR’s work and key priorities to enable social inclusion of persons with disabilities in the community. But, as echoed by many interventions, there are challenges that need to be addressed moving forward, including:

• Implementing the European Disability Strategy at national level via new initiatives in coming years;
• Leveraging EU funds to facilitate the transition from institutional to community-based services;
• Collecting more data on the lived experiences of persons with disabilities;
• Mainstreaming disability in all policy areas within the work of the newly elected European Commission.

As stressed by the European Disability Forum President Yannis Vardakastanis, the slogan “nothing about us without us” is not just a slogan, it is a right. It is not only in the hands of governments, but up to all of us to work together in addressing these issues.

On the second day, the spotlight was on outstanding efforts of EU cities working to become more accessible for people with disabilities. On the 15th anniversary of the Access City Awards, we congratulate Vienna for being this year’s winner, and all the other cities who participated. It was a great occasion to also hear from past winners Lyon and Ávila, who shared valuable insights on maintaining high accessibility standards and being role models for other cities. One way is knowledge sharing between cities to learn from each other on how to improve accessibility.

It came as no surprise that best outcomes are achieved when cities collaborate together with persons with disabilities themselves. As echoed by Agnes, who shared her personal experience on moving around a city as a woman with a disability: “accessibility should be a political priority – all cities that have been successful have considered universal design in every stage of construction and development”.