FIMITIC present at the European Day of Disabled People 2005 Conference in Brussels

Brussels, December 1-2, 2005

In line with the International Day of Disabled Persons in 1993 the European Commission started to organise in cooperation with the European Disability Forum the European Day of Disabled People.

In 2005 traditionally a conference entitled “Living together in society”took place in Brussels on December 1-2, 2005 in presence of about 200 participants, politicians, people with disability and experts in the field of disability. The key issue was the active inclusion of people with disability in society. The role as equal citizens with equal opportunities and the practical conditions in daily life such as long term care and support services as well as the roles and responsibilities of actors in the services delivery area were discussed.

Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Vladimir Spidla called public authorities to respond to the needs of its citizens, including persons living in institutions and particularly those with complex dependency needs. He furthermore urged the media to make this issue visible in order to raise the public awareness of the urgent need for a change. Finally, Commissionaire Spidla expressed his commitment “to give all citizens a real chance and to allow everyone to live in a society fully respecting their human rights”.

Further information on the European Day of Disabled People is available on the European Commission website:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/disability/day_en.html

Besides the concrete measures designed to improve the active inclusion of disabled people in the European Union during the 2006-2007 period were presented by the European Commission. The related Communication deals with a priority in the second phase of the EU Disability Action Plan, established to ensure a coherent policy follow-up to the European Year of Disabled People in the enlarged Europe.

The Communication is available on the European Commission website at:
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/index/7003_en.html

FIMITIC was part of the European Day of Disabled People by Miran Krajnc, President of ZDIS (Federation of Disabled Workers of Slovenia) and Mag. Andrejka Fatur - Videtic, member of the project council on the “Disabled-Friendly-Municipality”, a ZDIS project reported on during the European Day 2005 conference deliberations. The Slovene project is a model developed to create possibilities for the disabled to enjoy all human and citizens´ rights in society as all its members covering children, adults and elderly, and thus motivate and urge the local communities for action.

More information on the project is available on the ZDIS website here