Milan Šveřepa

Category: English

  • Disability inclusion in European associations

    Disability inclusion in European associations

    There are over 100 million people with disabilities in Europe. That’s a population larger than the largest of EU member states.  But how many people with disabilities do you know who sit on the boards of associations, who are in the decision-making roles in these organisations? The Boardroom magazine invited me to write about this,…

  • Supporting a person to establish their new life during deinstitutionalisation

    Every person leaving an institution needs support in establishing a new life, and in overcoming the harm and trauma caused by institutionalisation. Presentation of principles and some examples of supporting people with intellectual disabilities to live independently and to be included. With particular focus on support for people leaving “care” institutions. I made this presentation…

  • Right to live independently and to be included; Deinstitutionalisation; Support

    Many politicians, public authorities, and disability service providers act as if they don’t know what the law says about inclusion of people with disabilities.As if they never heard of good disability support. They keep forcing people into “care” institutions, even building new ones.They delay the necessary de-segregation with talk about “need for evidence”, or about…

  • Funders bear responsibility for what their money does

    It is not acceptable for funders to continue paying for segregation of people with intellectual disabilities. All funders need to respect the rights of people with disabilities.They need to listen to what people with disabilities are saying about how the money should be used. Funders are, for example: Countries (including national, regional, local public budgets);…

  • Goodbye Eastern Europe

    Just notes and archives of some books I read and find interesting and relevant. “An intimate history of a divided land.” Surprising, revealing, and ultimately optimistic despite everything read. My book of 2023. “Many peoples, faiths, languages lived together, in a loose symbiosis, strong enough to last for centuries. It was not always peaceful or…

  • “Deinstitutionalisation: The present and the future”

    “Deinstitutionalisation: The present and the future”

    The EEG (European Expert Group) is a coalition of organisations advocating to replace institutionalisation with family- and community-based support. The EEG has played big part in establishing deinstitutionalisation as part of EU policies, and promoting the use of EU funds for this purpose. The EEG has created a number of useful tools, such as: Guidelines…

  • Transformation of services for persons with disabilities – summary of report by UN Special Rapporteur

    Gerard Quinn, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, published a report on transformation of services for people with disabilities. I tried to summarise. (Written for Inclusion Europe.) The report calls for support services to implement these changes: Services based on personhood, focused on supporting personal development and inclusion in the community. Policy…

  • The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities: evidence from disability and self-advocates organisations in Europe

    The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities: evidence from disability and self-advocates organisations in Europe

    László Bercse, Helen Portal and I contributed to a book about the impact of Covid pandemic on people with disabilities. Our chapter is based on Inclusion Europe report called Neglect and discrimination: Multiplied – How Covid-19 affected the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. The book also covers: impact on mental health of children; how the…

  • 2022. Enough said

    As I write my usual end-of-year summary, there is only one topic that can be in focus: The incredibly courageous response of the Ukrainian people with disabilities and their families facing genocidal Russian war. And alongside it, the solidarity and support provided by all of you in the European and international Inclusion community. What Inclusion…

  • It can be done: Report on social care written to be read and understood

    It can be done: Report on social care written to be read and understood

    I was supposed to have a day off work that Friday. I was supposed to spend it off social media too. But I did neither, and I’m very happy with that. The day before, the United Kingdom’s House of Lords (parliament’s second chamber) published a report by its Adult Social Care Committee called “A gloriously…