This year, the European Parliament’s Disability Rights Week returned for its third edition with no less than 25 events, out of which 17 events by 14 Committees, 2 Policy departments and 1 individual Member of the European Parliament (MEPs). 8 events were organised by Vice Presidents and questors together with diverse Directorates-General and by the European Parliament’s Disability Support Group. And this year again, members of the Disability Intergroup played a central role participating to key activities:
- MEP Miriam Lexmann, Quaestor responsible for assistance for members with disabilities and chair of the artistic committee, took part in an an art exhibition and a workshop on engaging with persons with disabilities through art (organised with Director-General for Communication and the Directorate for Visitors with with Belgian partner organsiation Zonnelied).
- MEP Jagna Marczulajtis-Walczak hosted a conference on the importance of independent living, bringing together decision-makers, experts, civil society organisations, and persons with disabilities to discuss personal assistance, care financing, mental health, and accessibility barriers.
- MEP Alex Saliba and MEP Miriam Lexmann took part in a Parliament internal event on “Going beyond compliance: Strengthening accessibility and inclusion across the institution”. MEP Alex Saliba also spoke at the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) public hearing on the quality of support available to persons with disabilities and to families caring for children or adults with disabilities.
- During the same public hearing, MEP Pál Szekeres highlighted the situation of people with severe mobility impairments, such as those using electric wheelchairs. “Many could take up employment if they had access to a personal assistant to support them.”.
- During the Petitions Committee (PETI) discussion on ‘The UN CRPD Concluding Observations on the EU report’, MEP Peter Agius underlined PETI’s role in reviewing the EU under the UN CRPD and stressed the need to recognise autism, intellectual disabilities, and dyslexia as disabilities to ensure equal rights.
- During the Legal Affairs Committee’s hearing on the 2023 proposal for cross-border protection of adults, MEP Dainius Žalimas called for stronger action on legal capacity rights during a hearing on cross-border protection of adults and referred to the concluding observations of the CRPD Committee and asked what the European Commission is planning to do in that regard.
Throughout the week, many other Intergroup Members participated in conferences, hearings, webinars, and workshops, reinforcing the Intergroup’s commitment to advancing disability rights in the European Parliament.
You can read in more depth about the different events in our summary article European Parliament Disability Rights Week lives up to “Nothing without us”