Inclusion Europe

Brussels, Budapest, Barcelona or Brno? Wherever you are seeing this we appreciate you. Every one of the 8️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ of you! 💜💚

Money isn't everything. But how you spend it says a lot about what really matters to you. #MFF #ThePowerOfTogether

🇪🇸 Very good news out of Spain. Let's hope this new law gets approved and comes into force 🇪🇸 The Spanish government has approved a very important change in 2 key laws for people with disabilities: 1. The General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2. The Law on Personal Autonomy and Care. These laws will now go to the Congress of Deputies to be approved. The Government also said that it will give more money (more than 780 million euros) for the autonomous communities to improve support for people. 1️⃣ The proposed changes to the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities include: - People can make decisions with supports if they need to. - Families may also feel lonely and need support. - It is important to detect disability as soon as possible and provide early care. - Education must be inclusive and accessible to all students. 2️⃣ The proposed changes to the Law on Personal Autonomy and Care include: - Being able to work and receive disability benefits at the same time. - The right to choose temporary support or benefits while waiting for the services. - Accessibility of the process of application and evaluation. You can read more about these changes in this summary Plena inclusión prepared, including in easy-to-read: https://lnkd.in/dAvDHU_a Well done Plena inclusión and everyone involved! Fingers crossed for the rest of the process to get the laws approved.

As the European Union prepares its new budget, many organisations (Inclusion Europe among them) call on the EU to keep funding inclusion. The European Commission will present its proposal for new EU budget this week. The EU budget says how the EU will spend its money in the years following 2027. There were many reports saying the European Commission would propose a budget without a dedicated fund for inclusion. Inclusion Europe is one of many organisations calling on the EU to keep investing in inclusion of people (with disabilities). The European Parliament, in its resolution on the next EU budget, demands continued funding of social inclusion. https://lnkd.in/ewjA4Uu3 In March, Inclusion Europe published our call for EU money for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. 👉 The importance of investing in people, their skills and inclusion 👉 Conditions to achieve inclusion with public money 👉 What public money should be used for to support the right to decide, right to live independently and to be included, housing and support, education, employment, health care, and representation. https://lnkd.in/eXT_w_S7 For better use of EU funding to foster the transition from institutional to community-based care As members of the EEG, we led the work to develop a new document outlining how the EU should use its money to support deinstitutionalisation. https://lnkd.in/e6bmPfTD (PDF) Fund the fight against child poverty In May, we joined other members of the Alliance for investing in children calling on the EU to fund measures tackling child poverty. https://lnkd.in/dyeVM3CY 8 success factors for a future ESF+ In July, we joined many other organisations in support of keeping the European Social Fund (ESF+) as a part of the EU budget dedicated to funding inclusion. The statement highlights 8 success factors of the European Social Fund: https://lnkd.in/dfxWZWNz ⁉️ Promise of change? Last week, reports emerged the European Commission will change its original proposal to keep the dedicated social fund. We keep advocating for good policies and proper funding to end segregation of people with intellectual disabilities and isolation of their families. It is important for our members and others to talk with national governments about the EU budget too.

Is your city well accessible for people with disabilities? Access City Award nominations are open. The 16th edition of Access City Award accepts nominations until 9 September 2025. All EU cities with over 50,000 inhabitants can apply. Urban areas with a combined population of over 50,000 from countries with less than two cities of that size can apply too. Besides the usual award categories, EU Rights European Commission intends to award a Special Mention for ‘Accessibility in Housing’ this year. More information and how to apply https://lnkd.in/eCMBCDMF #EUaccessCity

This past week, I attended some workshops on accessible healthcare organised by the European Commission. We discussed the different ways that healthcare is inaccessible for people with intellectual disabilities. ☝ Legal capacity: substituted decision-making models give room for forced treatment, as people with intellectual disabilities are not able to make their own choices regarding the healthcare they receive. Support decision-making empowers people with intellectual disabilities to make decisions for themselves. 📝 Informed consent: it is incredibly important that doctors and other healthcare professionals are trained to speak in an easy-to-understand way and how to discuss difficult situations with people with intellectual disabilities, so that they can give informed consent. 💶 Money: the big reason for not seeking care in Europe is still that it costs too much money; especially for people with disabilities (and chronic illnesses) who often have higher medical costs and lower income. If we want to make healthcare more accessible, it also needs to be cheaper (or preferably free). 🗨️ Information: medical information is often provided in difficult language. Easy-to-read and understand information is important, also for preventive care. So that people with intellectual disabilities can take better care of themselves. 🏘️ Deinstitutionalisation: living independently in the community allows you to choose when and where to seek care without having to wait until someone else has deemed it important. This freedom is essential for accessible and inclusive healthcare. This gave me inspiration for a possible future Inclusion indicators report focusing on healthcare, as data is missing (as always).

At the European Disability Forum General Assembly 2025 in Vilnius, I supported the fantastic activist and self-advocate Tamara Byrne to give the keynote speech on this years topic, Supported Decision-Making in Everyday Life. Tamara spoke about the Assisted Decision-making (Capacity) Act and the Decision Support Service, and made it clear that other governments in European countries need to follow Ireland's lead and stop denying people with intellectual disabilities their right to legal capacity, and allow them to make their own decisions with adequate support. She also shared her own experience with supported decision-making in her life. She shared with everyone some of the work Inclusion Ireland is doing to support people to speak up and make their own decisions like supporting our members to give feedback to the DSS, and the Speak Up, Speak Out advocacy training guide: https://lnkd.in/eiTuwKya Here are some of Tamara's key recommendations: 💠 For supporters: • Don’t use complicated words. If you have to use them in text, explain what they mean after introducing them. • Respect people's decisions even if you disagree with it. 💠 For governments who still deny people legal capacity: • Change your laws and set up services like the Decision Support Service so people can get the right support and have their voices heard. • Always consult with self-advocates on everything you’re doing. Nothing without us! 💠 For self-advocates/people with intellectual disabilities: • You have the right to ask for supports to help you to make decisions. Some supports you can ask for are Easy-to-Read information or information in a video or audio format. • If you see another person with an intellectual disability whose rights are being taken away, call it out and report it to disability organisations. • Meet with other self-advocates and join advocacy groups and organisations. We are stronger together! Thank you Markaya Henderson, Una Brown, and all at EDF for supporting us to prepare and attend! Thank you Inclusion Europe's Freddy Jussien and Soufiane El Amrani for supporting our messages and for using your platforms to speak up and demand legal capacity and autonomy for all European self-advocates 👏

In this episode of our podcast Theresa Shearer FRSE talks about what it means to be a leader in NGOs and disability organisations. The conversations is about: 👉 How working together with people from different areas helps make a bigger impact. 👉 The story behind Enable's successful personal assistance (PA) model. 👉 The key role of self-advocates in shaping what NGOs do, and the importance of supporting them to have impact in all kinds for organisations. And lots more. Theresa Shearer is the CEO of Enable, our member in Scotland. Theresa was Vice-President of Inclusion Europe, until December 2024. Now, she is vice-president of EASPD - European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities. Theresa has received many recognitions for her work, including: - Fellow and Council Member of Scotland’s National Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh. - Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh Napier University; - Strathclyde Executive Leadership Award from the University of Strathclyde. Direct link to the episode on different apps in the comments.

We are sad to learn about the death of John O'Brien 🖤 John O'Brien developed and advocated for Person Centred Planning. An approach that influenced and improved the lives of countless people with intellectual disabilities. Pictured is John O'Brien during his training for Inclusion Europe in Portugal, back in 2014. Most recently, we were honoured and pleased to have his advice on our work for deinstitutionalisation of people with intellectual disabilities. We are grateful for everything John has done for people with intellectual disabilities. We express our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

This event was about the importance of having a job and developing skills for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. It was also the official launch of the Ulla Topi traineeships in inclusive policy-making. The event was hosted by Li Andersson MEP in collaboration with Inclusion Europe, and took place in the European Parliament on 24 June 2025. Li Andersson opened the event, speaking about recent review of the EU by the UN CRPD Committee. "The report highlighted concerns regarding the segregation of children with disabilities, where they face difficulties accessing regular schools due to a shortage of qualified teachers and educational support staff, a lack of reasonable accommodation, and inaccessible school buildings." "Across the EU, people with disabilities are significantly less likely to be employed." "This brings us to the people who make the difference. Ulla Topi will share her experience and insights from her admirable and exemplary lifelong work in self-advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities." Jyrki Pinomaa spoke about the importance of jobs for inclusion. "That’s why Inclusion Europe prepared new report. It shows why having a job is so important. It has 15 examples of support to employment of people with intellectual disabilities in different countries." https://lnkd.in/euRMrGyt Soufiane El Amrani's speech showed how “being in the room is the first step to influence policies and decisions. People with intellectual disabilities can make public communication accessible. Policies and laws become more representative and inclusive.” https://lnkd.in/gxSCJH-W Ulla Topi appreciated the new traineeship program name in her honour. "I thank you for this accolade, this special honour you've given me. I hope that the people who choose this trainee program and learn about self-advocacy will agree with me that everyone should have their own say on the decisions that affect their own lives.” https://lnkd.in/geUqbypT Monika Chaba presented the Disability Employment Package, aiming to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy social inclusion and economic autonomy through employment. https://lnkd.in/gCwB2vC7 Darwyn Bruelemans spoke about how important it is to support young people in developing skills, for example with the Erasmus+ program. Such programs need to improve in terms of accessibility for people with disabilities. 🙏 Thank you to all speakers and participants. We really enjoyed the evening together.