Category: Media

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • Opposition to inclusion is a refusal to accept people who differ

    From Reporting Democracy: Opposition to the desegregation of Czech schools is being used by extremist politicians to attract mainstream voters, including the middle class who worry about the effect on their children from the inclusive policy. Over 30% of all Roma pupils attended special schools in 2014, compared with an average of 2% for non-Roma,…

  • The plight of Europe’s disabled under coronavirus

    What coronavirus and the lockdown highlights is the ongoing segregation and discrimination of people with intellectual disabilities, especially in access to healthcare. This problem is not likely to have a “lockdown exit strategy” any time soon. My article in EU Observer published 21 April 2020. (A copy here too.) Czech version: Koronakrize z pohledu lidí…

  • Not all children are included in deinstitutionalisation

    There is no doubt that institutionalisation does tremendous damage to children’s health and development. Luckily, there has been significant progress to move away from institutionalisation, and instead support families to avoid separation by developing foster care and other alternatives. Unfortunately, this somehow seems not to apply to children with disabilities. In many countries, children with…