Our Board
30 committed women and men with disabilities representing the membership stend for the rights of persons with disabilities in EDF and in a variety of events and actions to ensure the voice of persons with disabilities is heard.
Who are they?
The EDF board of Directors is composed of the president and 30 members coming from 16 National Councils and 14 European NGO of which 12 are full members and two ordinary members. The Board of Director is elected every four years.
Role
The Board of Director is responsible for the supervision of the daily management of the organization and the work of the Secretariat including the drafting of the budget and accounts and the work programme, the external relations and the cooperation with third parties, the decision on membership applications and the exclusion of members. The Board elects the executive committee.
List of Members
Executive members
- President: Yannis Vardakastanis (National Confederation of Disabled People – ESAMEA, Greece)
- Vice-Presidents: Gunta Anca (The Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations –SUSTENTO, Latvia); John Patrick Clarke (European Down Syndrome Association – EDSA)
- Secretary General: Ana Pelaez Narvez (Comité Español de Representantes de Personas con Discapacidad – CERMI, Spain)
- Treasurer: Maureen Piggot (Inclusion Europe – IE)
- Klaus Lachwitz (German Disability Council – DBR, Germany)
- Pirkko Mahlamaki (Finnish Disability Forum, Finland)
- Thorkild Olesen (Disabled Peoples Organisation Denmark – DPOD, Denmark)
- Vera Bonvalot (Brain Injured and Families European Confederation – BIF)
- Nadia Hadad (European Network on Independent Living – ENIL)
- Humberto Insolera (European Union of Deaf – EUD)
Other Board members
EDF Board National Councils
- Luisa Bosisio Fazzi (Italian Disability Forum, Italy)
- John Dolan (Disability Federation Ireland – DFI, Ireland)
- Anna Drabarz (Polish Disability Forum – PFON, Poland)
- Dovile Juodkaite (Lithuanian Disability Forum – LNF, Lithuania)
- Klaus Lachwitz (German Disability Council – DBR, Germany)
- Marica Miric (Croatian Union of Associations of Persons with Disabilities – SOIH, Croatia)
- Albert Prevos (French Council of Disabled People for European Affairs – CFHE, France)
- Borut Sever (Slovenian National Disability Council – NSIOS, Slovenia)
- Þuríður Harpa Sigurðardóttir (The Organisation of Disabled in Iceland – ÖBI, Iceland)
- Sorin Tata (Romanian National Disability Council – CNDR, Romania)
- Bart Verdickt (Belgian Disability Forum – BDF, Belgium)
- Christina Wurzinger (Austrian Disability Council, Austria)
EDF Board European NGO Full members
- Marcel Bobeldijk (European Federation of Hard of Hearing – EFHOH)
- Pietro Cirrincione (Autism Europe – AE)
- Giampiero Griffo (Disabled Peoples’ International Europe – DPI Europe)
- Pierre Gyselinck (Action Européen des Handicapés – AEH)
- Sari Hirvonen Skarbo (European Association of Cochlear Implant Users – EURO-CIU)
- Cato Lie (International Federation of Spina Bifida and HydroCephalus – IFSBH)
- Jolijn Santegoeds (European Network of (ex) Survivors of Psychiatry – ENUSP)
EDF Board Ordinary members