Organisations of persons with intellectual disabilities from across Europe call on public authorities, information and education providers as well as the general public to recognise the right of persons with intellectual disabilities to information and lifelong learning.
The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) adopted a roadmap to guide service-providers in the implementation of policies which will favour transition from institutional to community-based care. In the document entitled ‘Making community-based services a reality - Roadmap on deinstitutionalisation’, the EASPD acknowledges the need for support services to move away from medical model of disability to the rights-based model.
In this submission, we will provide a brief overview on the commitments that the EC made in the Disability Strategy to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, then discuss what the UN CRPD Committee recommended to the EU in order to improve the situation in the relevant areas. Furthermore, this submission summarizes the data we gathered from our membership on
the seven areas of the Strategy that are most relevant for them. We would like to hereby thank to the large number of self-advocates and family members who filled out our online questionnaire.
“Family Action for the Inclusion of People with Intellectual Disabilities in Society” was the central theme of the Europe in Action 2011 – an annual congress of Inclusion Europe that took place last week in Larnaca, Cyprus.