Full participation in society

Equal Europe For The Disabled is the theme of a working group that is being proposed by the Committee of the Assembly of European Regions. The initiative owes its origins to the Istanbul AER Committee, which is hosting a meeting in the Turkish capital between today and Saturday.

Disabled people in Europe amount to nearly one fifth of the total population, a fact that, as the Istanbul meeting organisers have commented, "not only places serious responsibilities on sub-national authorities in Europe but also requires active coordination and cooperation between regions in order to create a trans-national European space for disabled persons where they lead their lives as full citizens and participate in public life".

Their aim is to establish an AER working group under the Social Policy and Public Health Committee in order to implement the New European Community Disability Strategy of the EU at regional level. This is in accordance with the subsidiarity principle that is part of the Union's vision.

The main orientations of the strategy are the empowerment of people with disabilities for participation in society, including severely disabled people, mainstreaming the disability perspective into all relevant sectors of policy formulation, removing barriers in order to enable people with disabilities to participate fully in society and nurturing public opinion to be receptive to the abilities of people with disabilities and towards strategies based on equal opportunities. Disabilities may be of a physical, sensory, mental or psychic nature.

The strategy is also meant to pay due attention to the needs and interests of families and carers of disabled persons.

The working group is meant to keep the problem permanently on the AER agenda, provide for the sharing of knowledge and experience and contribute to achieve the objective of the strategy

The Istanbul concept falls within the New European Community Disability Strategy adopted by the EU Commission in July 1996 and the EU Council in December 1996 on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.

The aim of these two declarations is to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities by incorporating disability issues into Community policies and to consolidate cooperation between member states in preventing all forms of discrimination on grounds of disability.

The times when the response to disability was mainly one of social compensation through charity and the development of specialist caring services outside the mainstream of society are over. At times such responses have actually compounded the problem of exclusion and under-participation. Today, these traditional approaches are slowly giving way to a stronger emphasis on identifying and removing the various barriers to equal opportunities and full participation in all aspects of life. It is a new approach that is already being implemented in different ways and at different speeds in all the member states.

The task is not an easy one. There are still a number of obstacles to the integration of people with disabilities into society. And there are regions that still have to eradicate age-old customs and prejudices.

All over Europe there are children with disabilities who are still excluded from mainstream schools and are confined to institutions that give them no opportunity for normal social interaction.

A great number of disabled persons within the working age are excluded from the labour market; they are also two to three times more likely to be permanently or temporarily unemployed than the rest of the working population.

Transport systems and public buildings continue to be inaccessible or accessible only with difficulty to people with disabilities, while suitably adapted or adaptable accommodation is in short supply and quite often prohibitively expensive.

Welfare systems tend to provide a minimum level of support, falling some way short of achieving the goal of integration.

There is still a long road to tread before the ultimate aims of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are fulfilled. It is true that awareness of such people having their rights has grown but there still are vast areas where these rights cannot be claimed to the full, at times, if at all.

Compared to other countries, even European ones, Malta has gone a long way, especially through the work performed by the National Commission for Disabled Persons and the determination of its staff led by its dynamic chairman, Joe Camilleri.

But the list of obstacles, to put it crudely, is still a long one. Prejudice is still around, not least among a number of entrepreneurs. Restrictions to participation in so many popular events are still noticeable. Access to government and privately-owned public places, shopping malls and other retail outlets, restaurants, offices in blocks of apartments is still rather heavily restricted.

Public halls, especially those that are not at ground level, are rarely accessible and so are public buses. Disabled persons' families and carers need more psychological support and training.

The proceedings of the Istanbul meeting need to be carefully analysed and its results followed. No stone should be left unturned in ensuring that the disabled can feel that their participation in society knows no limits.