First of all I’d like to congratulate Rhondda Cynon Taf Council on organising this conference to highlight the European Year of Disabled People and for their work year in year out in improving local services, access and participation for people with disabilities. I’m especially excited today that the conference is being transmitted on the world wide web by a live webcam. I’d like to extend a particular welcome to people watching in their homes and in community facilities. This is one of the innovative ways of increasing access to the Council’s events that are being pioneered by Rhondda Cynon Taf.
There are thirty eight million people throughout the EU who have a disability and according to Disability Wales one in six people in Wales are to some extent disabled but discrimination against disabled people has only really been looked at in the last few years at an EU level. As a member of both the Equal Opportunities Committee and the Employment and Social Affairs Committee in the European Parliament I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the main developments in this field. So what have we done?
The first action was a statement in December 1996 on Equality of Opportunity for People with Disabilities which was followed up in the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 when the Union was given the power to combat discrimination on grounds of sex, religion or belief, race, age, sexual orientation and disability. Using this as a starting point a comprehensive anti-discrimination package was passed in 2000 including a law for equal treatment in employment and an action programme to combat discrimination. So now there is a legal framework for legally enforceable employment rights, including protection against harassment, scope for positive action, appropriate remedies and enforcement measures. It also places a duty on workplaces to adapt the workplace to meet the needs of people with disabilities. This has to be implemented in the UK by next year.
Equal opportunities is supposed to be mainstreamed in EU policy development and there is a special unit in the Commission with responsibility for making sure that disabilities are taken into account when any European law is being prepared. The Equal Opportunities committee I'm a Vice Chair of has responsibility for this in the Parliament.
It is also a matter of human rights. In the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union, which will be part of the new constitutional treaty for Europe if it is agreed upon by governments in the Intergovernmental Conference this month, there is an article which prohibits discrimination and a special paragraph on the rights of persons with disabilities which reads:
Article II-26: Integration of persons with disabilities
The Union recognises and respects the right of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community.
This will be legally binding and could be enforced by any citizen in a court of law.
It was felt however that just preparing new laws was not enough. You need to build up a momentum for change in member states and engage with the public - win them over and make everyone aware of the stereotyping and exclusion of disabled individuals and groups. This is how the idea of making 2003 a European Year for Disabled People came about.
The Year is supposed to be about facing up to the problems and discrimination that face people with disabilities but it is also supposed to be a lot more positive. It is about celebrating the talents of people with disabilities. It is about seeing the person not the disability and changing attitudes. It is about individuals and groups of people with disabilities representing themselves and participating fully in society.
And it is also about working together - exchanging ideas and experiences at local, regional, national and European levels as well as coordination between government actors, voluntary groups and communities.
More than 30 voluntary Access Groups currently operate throughout Wales enabling disabled people to be involved in shaping their environments and promoting access in their local areas. This is the kind of example we can give to other European countries.
Three national projects and ten local projects in Wales have received help from the Year’s project fund and they range from a project to set up a creative writing groups for people who are disabled, encouraging volunteers and coaches for disability sports and a photographic campaign to promote positive images of people with disabilities.
People with disabilities are not just about their disabilities and don't just want to be involved in decisions directly related to disabilities. For example in March 2003 the European Disability Forum met in Thessalonica and passed a resolution condemning war in Iraq. They stated that war always sets up new barriers, contributes to a lack of understanding and intolerance for diversity.
Discrimination is particularly difficult for those who are doubly affected, namely people with disabilities who are also members of other groups in our society facing barriers: the elderly disabled, women with disabilities and people with disabilities who come from ethnic minorities.
One European programme that helps tackle all kinds of inequality and discrimination in the workplace is EQUAL. Last year in the parliament I hosted a reception in Brussels to launch the three EQUAL partnerships from Wales. One of these groups is comprised mainly of voluntary sector organisations including Disability Wales, Mind Cymru, RNIB, Scope, Wales Council for the Blind, Hafal (the severe mental illness organisation) and the RNID. It deals with the theme of 'employability' or facilitating labour market access for excluded groups of people. A delegation of those involved in this group have visited Brussels since the launch to get an idea of how the EU works, what my role is and how they can play an active part in European politics.
Because disability should not just be about a physical, sensory, or learning impairment. Disability in its broadest meaning is about the exclusion of certain people from social, economic, cultural and political activities because people who design or arrange activities haven’t taken account of everyone’s personal requirements.
The medical model of disability still dominates institutional thinking. This defines disability as a problem with the person. According to the medical model of disability, people with a disability can not participate in the ‘normal’, non-disabled, world because their legs, eyes, ears etc don't work. The solution, in this view of the world, is to invest in cures to help walking, talking, hearing, seeing...But in reality the main problem lies with society's acceptance and adaptation. Very few people deliberately discriminate against disabled people. But it is easy to put up unnecessary barriers that shut people out.
Some barriers are obvious such as buildings designed on different levels with stairs and no ramps or lifts. But other barriers are less obvious, for example
* assumptions about formal qualifications in job adverts ignore the fact that the “special” school system is not geared towards academic achievement.
* publishing information using small print means that over 15% of the population can not read it.
This is why mainstreaming equality and raising awareness is so important.
The European Year of People with Disabilities should be a springboard for the future not a one off event. Hopefully the momentum raised by events such as this will lead on to more participation by people with disabilities in political and community life and with disabilities being much higher up on the political agenda.
Jill Evans ASE/MEP
