The members of the Disability Intergroup, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Radka Maxová and MEP Ádám Kósa, co-hosted a meeting on the 16th of March titled “The Power of Accessibility”. The meeting gathered different services of the European Parliament (EP), as well as other MEPs, to discuss how to improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, as well as what improvements need to happen for the Parliament to become more accessible. Representatives of the European Commission disability unit, the EP Disability Support Group in the Parliament, and the European Disability Forum were also present at this meeting. 

Recruitment and employment of persons with disabilities in the EP

The first point for discussion touched upon the recruitment and employment of persons with disabilities in the EP. Concerning traineeship programmes, MEP Radka Maxová highlighted that there are very few trainees with disabilities, and the reasons for this low number could be the eligibility criteria of having a high education certification which may create indirect discrimination, as well as certain disability-related costs which are not covered by the Parliament, and the lack of awareness and information about these programmes for persons with disabilities. MEP Maxová proposed to improve the special traineeship programme, and adjust the financial allocation to trainees with disabilities to their real needs, keeping in mind the high costs of moving to a workplace in another country. Furthermore, the visibility of the traineeship programme for persons with disabilities should be increased, even on the dedicated traineeship webpage and every other channel.  

MEPs David Lega, Monica Semedo and Ádám Kósa, while acknowledging the progress in supporting MEPs with disabilities, explained the barriers they encountered and concluded that the Parliament should still strengthen its efforts in becoming more accessible and supportive, as more MEPs with disabilities will be expected after the 2024 elections. 

A member of the Cabinet of the President of the European Parliament confirmed that President Roberta Metsola is looking into these issues and is preparing a substantive response to the challenges mentioned to her by some of the MEPs during their bilateral meeting in February 2023 and that she is taking into account the challenges mentioned by the MEPs and the EP staff with disabilities at this meeting too.

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in the EP

Different representatives of the EP administration took the floor to present what the EP has implemented so far concerning the inclusion of persons with disabilities. They also informed about the role of the Access and Inclusion Group, which gathers different departments of the EP administration, such as personnel, buildings, technology and communication, etc. The disability contact point lies within the Directorate General for Personnel, but MEPs stressed that more needs to be done to inform everyone about its role and responsibilities. 

Increasing accessibility of the EP communication

MEP Ádám Kósa raised the need to increase the accessibility of the EP communication with citizens, and reminded the participants about the citizens’ petition to be able to submit petitions to the EP in national sign language. Unfortunately, there has not been much progress in implementing such solution, despite of the fact that, there has been submitted the Petition nr. 1056/2016 concerning this matter. This petition is still to be solved after 7 years. 

Another example mentioned was the State of the Union address. Last year the Commission provided international sign interpretation through their social media channels, and the EP enabled automatic live subtitling through a separate webpage. MEPs agree that a unique accessible livestream of such important debate should be put in place by the Parliament with all the necessary accessibility services. 

The European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities

The representative from the European Disability Forum took the floor to present the latest updates as for the organisation of the 5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities (EPPD). This landmark conference will prove that the Parliament can indeed become more accessible and meaningfully involved the European disability movement. 

EDF thanked President Metsola and the Disability Intergroup MEPs for their support and interest in organising this important gathering on May 23rd. 

Image credit: © European Union 2020 – Source : EP – Genevieve ENGEL