Event

EPR Public Affairs Event 2025 ‘Independent Living of Persons with Disabilities: The Role of Quality Services’

* This event was open to the public. 

The EPR Public Affairs Event is our yearly gathering in Brussels with EPR members, other European organisations and policy makers around a given topic related to the current EU political agenda and our sector of work, high quality service provision to persons with disabilities and rehabilitation services.

In 2025, our Public Affairs Event focused on services that support independent living of persons with disabilities, and the policies, challenges and good practices that contribute to shaping it. It included the presentation of the new EPR study on the topic, where good practices from EPR members are featured and analysed together with European policy context and recommendations for policymakers and service providers.

Participants also heard directly from EPR members INTRAS Foundation (Spain), The Rehab Group (Ireland), Rey Ardid Foundation (Spain), iArbeid (Norway) and Theotokos Foundation (Greece), who spoke on and presenting their work towards Independent Living, including success factors and challenges.

The event concluded with a panel discussion together with experts on the topic of Independent Living at European Level, including a European Commission representative, Inclusion Europe, ENIL (European Network on Independent Living) and Chance B (Austria).

The Public Affairs Event was also the occasion to celebrate and announce the winner of the EPR Prize Award 2025, presented to Fundación ONCE / Inserta (Spain) for their Women in ON Mode program! Rooted in actively listening to the women it serves, the initiative aims to tackle gender-based violence against women with disabilities by supporting access to, or reintegration into, the labour market – an instrumental step in the recovery journey and achieving independent living. The Award was accepted by Virginia Carcedo, Secretary General and Director of Transformation, Excellence and Equality, ONCE Foundation.

The full event programme and speakers can be accessed below.

Presentations

Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities: Policies, Practices, and Pathways Forward – presentation of EPR Study, by Laura Jones, Independent analyst and consultant

Presentation of ‘Women in ON Mode’ Program, by Virginia Carcedo, Secretary General and Director of Transformation, Excellence and Equality, ONCE Foundation

All presentations will be made available here shortly.