DISABILITY" "
“Today our ability to campaign for our rights and defend the 50 million people with disabilities in the enlarged Europe is far greater than in the past, and this assembly is the proof of that”, declared Yannis Vardakastanis, reconfirmed as chairman of the European Disability Forum (EDF) for the next four years, during the 9th annual general assembly of the EDF held in Barcelona at the end of May. The assembly defined the organization’s priorities for the years ahead. Founded in 1996, the EDF is an umbrella organization that brings together the various national organizations of the disabled in all the EU member countries, as well as NGOs representing the various types of disability. The mission of the EDF is to ensure that the handicapped have full access to fundamental rights through their active involvement in the formulation and reinforcement of European policies on disability. “The disabled shall never tolerate being subjected to discriminatory treatment in society and will continue to campaign for the defence of their own rights”, continued Vardakastanis, who also emphasized the need “to pass from words to actions in all member states to ensure the real integration of the disabled throughout Europe”. In addressing the assembly, in which over 150 delegates of 29 countries and 50 NGOs participated, the vice-president of the Spanish executive, Maria Teresa Fernández de la Vega Sanz affirmed: “The time has come for intentions to become concrete facts: in Spain we are promoting new policies that will permit the disabled to live just like any other citizen”. “The disabled have contributed significantly to the well being of our city added the Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos -. Many years ago they indicated to us the way of improving the life not only of the disabled, but of each citizen. In Barcelona the concept of ‘accessible planning’ has gradually become part of a general and permanent reflection in all our policies”. Other issues at the centre of the discussions at the assembly were European Structural Funds and the UN Convention on the rights of the disabled, with the adoption of two important resolutions that will in the near future be widely diffused among the responsible authorities of the member states and of the European institutions. Accepting the EDF’s requests on the first point, Iratxe García, MEP, remarked: “We cannot continue to permit the current use of public money, such as that of the Structural Funds, to erect further barriers in Europe”.
