Category: English

  • On resilience

    Reflections on Europe in Action to End Segregation conference, September, Brussels. Originally published on Inclusion Europe blog. Oh, it was so delightful to have people around for the 3 days of our Europe in Action to End Segregation conference last week. To be able to see and feel the other persons reactions, emotions, body language.…

  • If you are being overlooked in normal times, it is unlikely that anyone will take you into account during a crisis

    If you are being overlooked in normal times, it is unlikely that anyone will take you into account during a crisis

    I was kindly invited by FEANTSA to contribute to their magazine about the impact of the Russian war on Ukraine. This is what I wrote: The situation of people with disabilities in Ukraine There are over 2.7 million people with disabilities in Ukraine, of which some 260,000 are people with intellectual disabilities. They often experience severe…

  • Protecting people with intellectual disabilities and their families during russian war on Ukraine

    Key parts of Inclusion Europe work to support people with intellectual disabilities and families in Ukraine: Fundraising and financial support There are 14,000 families brought together by our member in Ukraine alone. Many of them without jobs, pensions because of the war. Inclusion Europe launched an emergency fundraiser to help them. By mid-April, we raised…

  • End-of-year reading and listening recommendations

    As many do at the end of a year, I also shared some reading and listening recommendations from 2021. 🕵️‍♀️ This series of Investigate Europe articles on private money in old people care is definitely worth the time of anyone interested in social services. 🔥 Inclusion Dialogue podcast is always very interesting to get new…

  • 2021 at Inclusion Europe, and related news

    Bringing you an overview of news, reports, policies covered in Include newsletter this year. Subscribe here not to miss anything next time around. * And a bit of other stuff, too. Oh, and this was 2020 by the way. Hello. I hope you find this a useful reminder of some things that happened this year. When it’s…

  • Better job opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities

    Soufiane El Amrani and Milan Šveřepa wrote an article about employment, published in Dutch here. Below is an English version: „As a person with intellectual disabilities I think it is important for all people with intellectual disabilities to have a job like everyone else,“ says Soufiane El Amrani, self-advocacy and easy-to-read officer at Inclusion Europe. „Having a job…

  • Build relationships, not houses

    Last 2 days have been about learning how supporting living works in Greece, and how to improve it and make it available to many more people. It was a conference in Athens, held by Estia to mark 10 years of providing supported living services. They kindly invited me to talk about support for independent living and inclusion to…

  • Recommendations for Polish deinstitutionalisation strategy

    Polskie Forum Osób z Niepełnosprawnościami organised a conference called “We have the right to live independently. We cannot wait any longer”, and I was invited to speak during a panel about the Polish deinstitutionalisation strategy and “whether we have to wait until 2030?” I offered suggestions for deinstitutionalisation: Prevent institutionalisation of those living in the…

  • Deinstitutionalisation and families

    Today I spoke during a EESC hearing about challenges of the transition from institutional to community-based support for persons with disabilities and the role of families as their carers. I talked about priorities in deinstitutionalisation, one of which must be making the changes work for people with complex support needs too. They are often left…

  • Institutionalisation of old people in Czechia

    Forum for human rights, Validity launch of report on institutionalisation of old people, September 2021. My remarks:   Massive institutionalisation of older people demonstrates the failure of policy when it comes to securing support and care. It stems from lack of understanding how support and care should and can be provided. And it is based…