European Commission vows to make Europe accessible for people with disabilities

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Around 90 million people in the European Union live with a disability.

“It could be you, it could be me,” Hadja Lahbib, European Commissioner for Equality, told Euronews’s flagship morning show, Europe Today.

Lahbib presented the European Commission’s “Enhancing the Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities up to 2030” communication, a halfway check of its 2021-2030 Strategy for the Rights of persons with disabilities.

“We have achieved a lot in the five previous years, but there are a lot of things that need to be fixed,” said Lahbib.

The reinforced EU strategy, presented on Wednesday, aims to put a “stronger focus on implementation, delivery on the ground and real impact for people’s lives.”

Lahbib said the strategy listens to the needs of people with disabilities, aiming to mainstream accessibility from technology and artificial intelligence to democratic participation in elections.

“Now we are aware that their first requests are three things: they want to be more included in the labour market, more independent living, and more accessibility in general,” she added.

Push for independent living and inclusion in the labour market

The enhanced strategy includes launching an Alliance for Independent Living to replace institutions with community-based services.

Lahbib stressed that everyone should decide for themselves with whom and where they want to live.

“That is what we call deinstitutionalisation, to be sure that a person with disabilities can live their own life independently, and it is about their dignity and their choice,” she said.

The Commission’s communication also strengthens its efforts to improve the labour market and accessibility for people with disabilities.

One of the renewed objectives includes improving the implementation of the Disability Employment Package.

For disability groups across Europe, the Commission’s initiative lacks ambition.

“The Disability Strategy has the right words, but it lacks teeth and strength,” Yannis Vardakastanis, president of the European Disability Forum, said in a statement.

We renew our call for stronger measures, dedicated funding, and for the Commission to put the Union of Equality back on its political agenda,” he added.