My Talents for Diversity online event 9th October 2020 – ETR

On Friday 9 October,  

Inclusion Europe organised the fourth online event  

as part of the project “My Talents. For Diversity”.  

There were 4 speakers: 

• Soufiane El Amrani 
• Katarina Ivanković-Knežević 
• Haydn Hammersley 
• Milan Brglez 

They talked about how employment of people with disabilities 

should be part of the 2020-2030 EU Disability Strategy.  

Soufiane El Amrani

Soufiane El Amrani is the Easy-to-read and

Advocacy Officer at Inclusion Europe.

Soufiane said:

“I have been working at Inclusion Europe for a long time.

I am happy with my job.

But I know not all people with intellectual disabilities have the opportunity to have a job.”

Katarina Ivanković-Knežević

Katarina Ivanković-Knežević works at the Directorate-General for

Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.  

Katarina Ivanković-Knežević presented positive outcomes  

of the previous EU Disability Strategy:  

• In 2018, 110 000 young people with disabilities were supported by the Youth Employment Initiative that help young people to have a job.  
• In 2019, the European Commission published a guide presenting good practices of reasonable accommodations put in place by employers. Read the guide: link 

Katarina Ivanković-Knežević said that a lot of work remains to be done  

to make sure people with disabilities can have a job.  

She presented some priorities about employment  

for the 2020-2030 EU Disability Strategy: 

• The labour market should be accessible for people with disabilities.  
• Employment services should work with and for people with disabilities.   
• All the Member states of the European Union should recognise the disability of a person the same way.  

Haydn Hammersley 

Haydn Hammersley works at the European Disability Forum (EDF). 

Haydn Hammersley presented some ideas that EDF has about

employment for the 2020-2030 EU Disability Strategy.  

For example:  

• Making sure the workplaces can adapt to the needs of each person with a disability.  
• Making sure no people with disability who has a job is paid less than the minimum wage of their country.   

 You can read other demands of the EDF here: link.  

Milan Brglez 

Milan Brglez is a MEP.  

Milan Brglez explained that people with disabilities are at greater risk

of poverty and social exclusion.  

For Milan Brglez, every law should consider the most vulnerable people of the society.  

Milan Brglez explained that the COVID-19 crisis impacted employees with disabilities.  

He said that the Member states of the EU must increase their commitment to deal with the discrimination in access to employment.  

Watch the event: