A delegation of 20 young persons with disabilities from the EDF Youth Committee and the Ascend Citi Project participated in the European Youth Event (EYE) 2023, which took place on the 9 and 10 June. This event hosted, by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, brought together more than 10,000 young people from all over Europe.
The Ascend project, supported by the Citi Foundation, financed and planned the participation of fourteen young people and their personal assistants from countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The participants took part in workshops, debates and learnings on current topics such as climate change, political participation, access to education, human rights, rule of law and democracy, social exclusion, migration, recovery and resilience.
Our participation in the European Youth Event
The European Disability Forum (EDF), in partnership with the European Parliament, organised 2 activities; a workshop and a panel discussion during the EYE.
On the first day, the workshop focused on “Your Rights in the EU”. Facilitated by EDF Youth Coordinator Loredana Dicsi, and EDF Youth Committee member Lydia Vlagsma, the session aimed to teach to recognise the rights of persons with disabilities through case studies, as well as to inform about the organisations to contact to complain aboutdiscrimination.
On the second day, the panel ‘Working in Europe. Accessible for all?’ was moderated by EDF Youth Committee member Ben Rowsome. Attendees discussed the employment situation of persons with disabilities in Europe.
The session started with a presentation by Elias Tebibel, Chair of the EDF Youth Committee who introduced EDF’s work on youth.
EDF Youth Coordinator, Loredana Dicsi introduced data on employment from our latest Human Rights Report on the “Right to Work”. Loredana noted that young persons with disabilities in Europe face greater barriers to employment than those without disabilities. Data collected by the European Commission in 2019 estimates that 47.4% of persons with disabilities aged 20 to 29 were employed compared to 57.8% of those without disabilities.
Guler Kosha and Aria Tang from the International Labour Organisation highlighted that, in Europe, young persons with disabilities are 5 times more likely not to be employed. They also pointed out that the difficulties of completing education and obtaining qualifications, the inaccessibility of recruiting processes and the lack of reasonable accommodation are the main barriers identified in accessing the labour market for the disability community.
During the workshop, attendees also listened to the personal experiences of two young persons with disabilities.
Tamara Byrne, member of the EDF Youth Committee, shared all the barriers she has to overcome when seeking employment. From inaccessible job advertisements for persons with intellectual disabilities up to denial of reasonable accommodation at the workplace, Tamara called for the compliance of Article 27 of the UNCRPD that recognises the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others.
Michal Homola, Ascend Citi Project participant, who isworking for Amazon in Slovakia,summarised what European institutions could do to support and improve the employability of persons with disabilities on 3 levels:
- Education: supporting young persons with disabilities to obtain qualifications that allow them to access jobs,
- Raising awareness among employers to remove the stigmatisation of workers with disabilities and,
- Reasonable accommodation and accessibility in the workplace, removing not only physical barriers but also digital obstacles that prevent persons with disabilities from developing their tasks.
To conclude the panel, MEP Dragoş Pîslaru presented the work the European Parliament is doing to improve the employability of persons with disabilities. Dragoş highlighted funding, digitalisation and collaboration with stakeholders as three important drivers to push the agenda and improve the employment situation of persons with disabilities in Europe.
More information
The Youth Committee is the voice of young persons with disabilities within EDF. The Committee ensures that EDF’s work takes into account the perspective of young people with disabilities but also represents young people with disabilities in both EDF and external events.
The Ascend project is funded by Citi Foundation and coordinated by the European Disability Forum. This one-year program is focused on strengthening the capacity of the disability movement in Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.