Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Does the future of Europe include disability?

Alejandro Moledo and Álvaro Couceiro 31st May 2022

The Conference on the Future of Europe failed to address persons with disabilities.

disability,persons with disabilities,future of Europe
Equal, not different—persons with disabilities should enjoy access to the mainstream labour market (ALPA PROD / shutterstock.com)

In March 2021, the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission agreed a joint declaration on the Conference on the Future of Europe. This launched an ambitious public discussion on the needs and expectations of Europe’s citizens and the future objectives of the European Union, initiating the largest ever consultation across the continent as citizens shared their ideas. There were good grounds for such a process, given the vital task of reshaping the EU and adjusting it to the challenges ahead.

The inclusion of persons with disabilities should have been deemed essential to framing the agenda of the union—every EU law and every decision affects us as citizens, in particular ways. But the conclusions of the conference fell short of addressing the needs and rights of over 100 million people in the EU.

We expected the conference to tackle how the EU can secure our inclusion—the equal rights and opportunities for which we advocate. Such rights are binding on the EU and all its member states, having ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The European Disability Forum and its members were active with proposals and events, despite the barriers to participation. The lack of accessibility of the online conference platform was especially problematic. Yet although a thorough report, commissioned by EDF, pointed out the many problems and how to fix them, this was never adequately corrected.


Become part of our Community of Thought Leaders


Get fresh perspectives delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter to receive thought-provoking opinion articles and expert analysis on the most pressing political, economic and social issues of our time. Join our community of engaged readers and be a part of the conversation.

Sign up here

Ambition essential

The conference thus failed meaningfully to include the views of persons with disabilities. The report of the final outcome, presented to the presidents of the three main EU institutions on Europe Day, reflects this deficit. While many broad objectives and measures might include persons with disabilities as part of the general population, explicit mentions and actions were scarce. Moreover, some of the proposals concerning persons with disabilities were not expressed correctly and insensitively elided disability with illnesses, which is discriminatory and incorrect.

Disability appears in only five out of 49 proposals and six out of 320 measures. These are cursory, too: education against stereotypes towards ‘those who are ill or disabled’ and fighting against health poverty through free dental care; a broad approach to promoting employment; increased public investment in education, health, housing, physical infrastructure and care; accessibility of digital tools for persons with disabilities—a critical point the pandemic has highlighted—and guaranteeing effective voting rights.

More ambition is essential if the EU is to become inclusive. We need concrete measures in many more areas, bold actions from the institutions and a general switch towards placing disability in the mainstream of every policy with social repercussions.

Inclusive labour market

Employment inclusion is one of the greatest challenges facing our societies. Of the working-age population, the employment rate of those with a disability is barely 50 per cent, compared with 75 per cent for persons without disabilities. Beyond unemployment, inactivity rates are also unacceptable: most persons with disabilities are excluded from the labour market even before they start looking for work.

Anti-discrimination policies must be promoted more effectively. This includes a better implementation of the 2000 directive on equal treatment in employment and occupation. It means creating more training opportunities and activation measures to ensure persons with disabilities are included in the open labour market. The EU also needs to promote accessible work environments and disseminate good practices, such as those within the social economy.

Fundamentally, EU countries must accelerate the transition into open-labour-market solutions, ensuring that persons with disabilities are not left aside in segregated models which do not comply with the UN convention. These include those which, at times, lead to inferior rights and incomes below the minimum wage.

Community-based support

Deinstitutionalisation—to ensure persons with disabilities live in the community and are not segregated in residential institutions—is a moral imperative as well as a legal obligation. EU funds must not be used to build or renovate these institutions, under any circumstances. Instead their closure must be pursued, even mandated, in favour of independent, humane alternatives: community-based support and services.

The conference report does not consider the intersectionality of disability and other oppressed identities, such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and cultural background (including the intersection of these multiple identities). In particular, combating discrimination outside the workplace and violence—especially gender-based violence and abuse directed towards women with disabilities—must be addressed. The most effective vehicle is to resume negotiations on the ‘horizontal’ equal-treatment directive, blocked in the council for more than ten years.


Support Progressive Ideas: Become a Social Europe Member!


Support independent publishing and progressive ideas by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month. You can help us create more high-quality articles, podcasts and videos that challenge conventional thinking and foster a more informed and democratic society. Join us in our mission - your support makes all the difference!

Become a Social Europe Member

Future generations cannot be counted in if access to quality inclusive education is not tackled. Ensuring that educational infrastructures and services are fully accessible and boosting participation in tertiary education should be goals for the EU. Special attention should be paid to programmes related to mobility in education—far too many learners with disabilities are excluded from ERASMUS+, for example.

Public space

More action is also needed to reinforce accessibility to public space, goods and services. The European accessibility act, the web-accessibility directive and the directives and regulations on passengers’ rights have opened the path. Specific assessments and reforms are however required to ensure that physical spaces (cities, towns, rural areas) and the EU internal market (including the digital sphere) do not discriminate against persons with disabilities, because of a lack of accessibility.

Finally, the EU needs to improve how it gathers data, in its general statistical systems and within its projects. Better data allow for more efficient and effective policy and programme development. The statistical landscape regarding disability is far from adequate and more disaggregation is essential.

The Conference on the Future of Europe has marked the beginning of what will be a long path to adapt the union to the challenges of tomorrow as well as today. The rest of that journey has to be accessible and inclusive—a bolder approach which leaves no one behind.

Alejandro Moledo
Alejandro Moledo

Alejandro Moledo is head of policy at the European Disability Forum.

Álvaro Couceiro
Álvaro Couceiro

Álvaro Couceiro is social-policy officer at the European Disability Forum.

You are here: Home / Society / Does the future of Europe include disability?

Most Popular Posts

Ukraine,fatigue Ukraine’s cause: momentum is diminishingStefan Wolff and Tetyana Malyarenko
Russia,information war Russia is winning the information warAiste Merfeldaite
Nanterre,police Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes offJoseph Downing
Russia,nuclear Russia’s dangerous nuclear consensusAna Palacio
Belarus,Lithuania A tale of two countries: Belarus and LithuaniaThorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter

Most Recent Posts

G7,BRICS,China,Russia G7 versus the BRICS: taking stock in 12 figuresThorvaldur Gylfason
solar energy,photovoltaic,Europe,EU,PV Powering up: the EU and solar energyFrancesco Crespi, Dario Guarascio, Serenella Caravella and Giacomo Cucignatto
Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh: it’s not over yetSvante Lundgren
Sweden,climate,green Sweden’s climate policy—off the railsLisa Pelling
Biden,Detroit,UAW,strike Detroit, Joe Biden and a union renaissancePaul Knott

Other Social Europe Publications

strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy
Bildschirmfoto 2023 05 08 um 21.36.25 scaled 1 RE No. 13: Failed Market Approaches to Long-Term Care
front cover Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound Talks: does Europe have the skills it needs for a changing economy?

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s research manager, Tina Weber, its senior research manager, Gijs van Houten, and Giovanni Russo, senior expert at CEDEFOP (The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training), about Europe’s skills challenges and what can be done to help workers and businesses adapt to future skills demands.

Listen where you get your podcasts, or for free, by clicking on the link below


LISTEN HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

The future of remote work

The 12 chapters collected in this volume provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the impact and the future trajectories of remote work, from the nexus between the location from where work is performed and how it is performed to how remote locations may affect the way work is managed and organised, as well as the applicability of existing legislation. Additional questions concern remote work’s environmental and social impact and the rapidly changing nature of the relationship between work and life.


AVAILABLE HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube