Title: The EU Strategy on Disability
1The EU Strategy on Disability
Wallis Goelen
Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs
and Equal OpportunitiesHead of Unit Integration
of People with Disabilities Unit (G3) June
2006
2Introduction
- Equal opportunities objective of the EU's
long-term strategy on disability. Underpins the
set of common EU social and economic values. - European Year of People with Disabilities in
2003 major initiative of the European
Commission. People with disabilities have similar
concerns throughout the Union, face same
obstacles, experience same discriminations, share
same hopes and fears. - Disability policies are essentially the
responsibility of individual MS but European
community policies and actions impact in many
ways on situation of people with disabilities. - December 2003 the European Commission commits
itself to regularly issue a public report on the
situation of disabled people in the EU and to
develop an European Disability Action Plan to
sustain the long-term effects of the EYPD. - Council called on MS to take the EU Action Plan
into account when developing their national
disability policies -
3The four pillars of the EU disability strategy
- EU ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION AND MEASURES
Providing access to individual rights (Directive
2000/78/EC, Anti-Discrimination Programme) - ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS Elimination of
obstacles preventing disabled people from
exercising their abilities - MAINSTREAMING OF DISABILITY ISSUES
Mainstreaming in order to facilitate active
inclusion of disabled people - MOBILISING STAKEHOLDERS THROUGH DIALOGUE
Nothing about people with disabilities without
people with disabilities. Dialogue through
regular meetings with MS, pwd and civil society
representatives and stakeholders
4Long lasting effects of the European Year of
People with Disabilities
- Commission Communication of October 2003
"Equal opportunities for people with
disabilities A European Action Plan" - A strategic framework principles and concepts
for the for reinforcement of the disability
dimension in all relevant EU policies, while
supporting and stimulating policies at national
level - A reference point the EU biennial report on the
situation of people with disabilities in the
enlarged Union for all stakeholders involved or
concerned. To inform policy makers. - The EU Disability Action Plan to reinforce
mainstreaming
5Mainstreaming a crucial tool in the EU
disability strategy
- Requires
- Political understanding of its significance
moving to a full participation model - Taking into account the needs of people with
disabilities at all stages of policy development - Involvement of all relevant actors, including
NGOs and representative organisations of people
with disabilities i.e. active participation of
all stakeholders at every stage of policy making,
starting at planning and design stage - Methodological tools, suitable co-ordination,
adequate monitoring and impact assessment across
the board
6The European Disability Action Plan
-
- ROLLING and MULTI-ANNUAL
- TIME HORIZON 2010
- THREE CENTRAL OBJECTIVES
- 1. Achieving full implementation of the
Employment Equality Directive - 2. Delivering mainstreaming
- 3. Improving accessibility for all
7Principles and concepts of the second phase of
the EU disability action plan 2006-2007
- Apart from the priorities outlined, the AP is
guided by following principles and concepts - Independent living
- Active Inclusion
- Citizenship concept
8The 2005 Communication
MAIN BODY First Biennial Report Provides
overview of the main developments, trends and
analysis recent statistics, mainly within the
area of active inclusion and employment of
disabled people and integration of disabled
people into society in general. EU Disability
Action Plan for 2006-2007Outlines policy
priorities and identifies priority areas for the
forthcoming years. ANNEXESAnnex 1Overview of
the ongoing actions within the framework of DAP
2004-2005Annex 2 Overview of the actions
forecasted within the framework of DAP
2006-2007Annex 3 Examples of mainstreaming of
disability issues in practice in MS
9The 2005 Communication in detail
- Part 1. Biennial Report main findings (1)
- Lack of common EU definition of disability
constitutes an obstacle for efficient data
collection and analysis throughout Europe. - - 44.6 million one in six persons aged between
16 and 64 report that they have a long standing
health problem or disability. They represent at
least 16 of the overall EU working age
population - There is a strong correlation between disability
and increasing aging of the European population.
- - Nearly 30 of people in the age group 55-64
report a disability and 63 of people with
disabilities are older than 45. - - Surveys show that disability schemes affect
early retirement. This development calls for
further actions to support active aging and
active labour force participation.
10The 2005 Communication in detail
- Part 1. Biennial Report main findings (2)
- Figures indicate gap between the employment rate
of disabled and non-disabled people. - 40 of disabled persons are employed compared to
64.2 of non disabled persons. The ratio for
those with a relatively light level of disability
that does not limit daily life is 50. - The inactivity rate of disabled persons is twice
that of non-disabled. 50 of people whose
relatively light level of disability does not
hamper their daily activities are inactive as
compared to 26.9 for non disabled persons. - Only 15.9 of working disabled persons are
provided with some assistance to work. At the
same time, 43.7 of respondents believe they
could work if they were given adequate
assistance. - Correlation between disability and level of
education. - Modern technologies (ICT) constitute one of the
main tools for overcoming environmental barriers
11The 2005 Communication in detail
- Part 2. Priorities of the EU Disability Action
Plan 2006-2007 Encouraging activity
Objective is to attract more people into active
employment in the open labour market (where
possible). ESF is one of the most important tools
in this respect. - Promoting access to quality support and care
services Commission will, inter alia, present a
proposal to streamline different Open Methods of
Coordination in social protection and social
inclusion and will develop policy cooperation on
health and long-term care. Commission will also
issue Communication on Social Services. - Fostering accessibility of goods and services
Work on transport services and increased ICT
accessibility, including access to the new
generation of assistive technologies. - Increasing the EU's analytical capacity Quality
and quantity of disability-related statistical
data will be increased through cooperation with
Eurostat and through 7th Framework Programme on
Research. - 2.
12The 2005 Communication in detail
- Annexes
- DAP 2004-2005 (examples of actions) - 06.2005
Commission Discussion Paper Disability
mainstreaming in the ESS- 12.2005 MS submit
information on implementation of the
Anti-Discrimination Directive. Commission will
analyse the implementation and submit a report.-
09.2005 Publication of the eAccessiblity
Communication - DAP 2006-2007 (examples of actions) - 01.2006
Seven projects selected and launched within the
framework of the Pilot Projects on Actions to
Mainstream Disability (EP)- 06.2006 ESF
Conference will be organised, focusing on equal
opportunities - Mainstreaming of disability issues in practice
(Annex 3)Contains examples of good practices in
individual Member States in various areas
employment, life long learning, public built
environment, etc. Particular focus is devoted to
the role of the ESF and other Community
programmes in promotion of equal opportunities
13Implementation of EU Action Plan
- Through institutional framework
- Disability High Level Group meetings, comprising
MS and third sector representatives. - Disability Inter-Service Group meetings,
comprising civil servants from different
directorates general. - Dialogue with the EP, monitoring of
Parliamentary Inter-Service group activities - Dialogue with CoR and EESC
- Through other means
- Dialogue with Social Partners and other relevant
stakeholders - Establishment of the Action Plan scoreboard
allowing continual monitoring of the
implementation process - Through eventual meetings of MS disability
ministers