People with disabilities are full citizens who have equal rights, are entitled to dignity, equal treatment, independent living and full participation in society as non – disabled people. Despite equal rights for non – disabled people, they have more difficulty in finding a job with a decent income. Reaching a good level of education is another problem they have to face; even when they reach high education studies they are much less employed in high level jobs. People with disabilities represent one sixth of the overall EU working population but their employment rate is comparatively low.
2003 was the European Year of People with Disabilities and one of the main objectives was achieving equal rights for people with disabilities and since this year the Commission’s disability strategy has been to make equal opportunities a reality. The Commission’s strategy is to integrate the disability issues in all UE policies: this is made since 2003 through the EU Disability action plan (DAP), a “mainstreaming” strategy. The DAP is developed in 2 years phases. Each phase is focused on one special issue – the 2008-2009 DAP focus is accessibility. The Commission is preparing the new strategy for 2010-20201.
The aim of DAP strategy for 2003-2010 was to enable disabled people to play an active role in society, improving employment and education prospect to increase their access to goods and services. Member States design their own strategy for the inclusion of disabled people in the labour market, in educational initiatives and in all other initiatives that can help disabled people living independently, get transportation, access to information, access to buildings and infrastructures. European Union is committed to respect the Human Rights of all people, but the fundamental rights of millions of disabled people (disabled people in the EU are 65 million) are regularly violated in many Member States2.
Finally it is interesting to observe how the European Year has gained increasing importance over the years: it can be easily observed by comparing the European Year of People with Disabilities’ web site with the European Year 2010 web site. The increasing importance given to the European Year instrument represents a concrete hope in the European instruments for increasing a European feeling and a common solution to the main social issues.
On the other hand, the last economic measures of the Italian Government severely damage disabled people. The action plan reduces the number of support teacher for disabled people: 180.000 disabled students and 500 teachers less. This means classes that comprehend a large number of disabled students and means less integration with “normal” students. The action also contemplates a disability threshold of 80% for obtaining a minimum income, instead of 74%3. This action was officially taken against false disabled people but will penalize only real disabled people: thanks to a strong mobilization of disabled people associations and families this threshold was lowered again but only for unique disease (it means that people with Down Syndrome and another pathology are excluded). Associations are satisfied for the results but criticized the measure that hits once again weakest people.
In line with the strategic goals of DAP, the Bulgarian government has approved a number of strategic documents and developed policies directed to the effective integration of disabled people in society. The Strategy providing equal opportunities for people with disabilities 2008-2015 aims at the effective implementation of the policies of the Bulgarian government to guarantee improved quality of life for disabled people, prevention of discrimination, and their full and active inclusion in all spheres of social life. According to the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs 2009-2013, the strategic measures to be implemented in the period include modernization of national legislation in the area of integration of people with disabilities, providing social and economic protection for disabled people, including financial support for projects related to social inclusion and integration, increasing the opportunities for their employment and self-employment, etc.
The implementation aspect of these strategies and approaches, however, has been far from satisfactory. One of the main problems remains the lack of sufficient national resources. This means that all initiatives and projects developed at national level suffer from a very limited scope of action. In a number of cases, experts from the social ministry admit that national projects fail to provide the expected results. The greatest contribution to the implementation of the above mentioned measures and policies is expected to come from the EU. One of the main sources is the European Social Fund (ESF), through the Operational Program “Human Resources Development”, especially in the field of modernization of educational approaches and integration of children with special needs within the educational system. The other is the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Operational Program “Regional Development”, for projects related to the improvement of physical accessibility of buildings and institutions. Unfortunately, due to some past problems related to mismanagement of EU funds and lack of administrative capacity at national level, there are huge delays in the implementation of the approved projects and an overall ineffectiveness of the operational programs due to the extremely low level of utilization of European funds in the country. In addition, in light of the necessity to fight the consequences of the financial and economic crisis, the government has recently announced that the number of the disability pensions will be decreased. This means that the so-called second social disability pension, to which retired people with more than 70% disability are currently entitled, will be eliminated in January, 2011. This action is supposed to end the abuses caused by “fake” disabilities and to reallocate the scarce resources to those really in need. Due to the unique current system supporting disabled people in Bulgaria, 404 thousand people receive 859 thousand personal disability pensions, which means that certain individuals receive two, even three different disability pensions. There are serious concerns, however, with regard to the effectiveness and objectivity of the criteria that will be used to establish the new requirements and disability thresholds.
In Romania there is a constant concern for providing a decent and adequate social protection for people with disabilities. According to official statistics, in Romania there are 631.199 people with disabilities, but only 3% of all disabled people are in public residential institutions managed by National Authority for Disabled Persons, while the rest of them are in care of families or are living independently. In comparison with the European Union countries, in Romania the percentage of disabled people in total population is much lower, but the difference is given by the different approaches – in Romania they are speaking about persons with handicap and in the rest of the European Union countries about persons with disabilities. According to the President of National Authority for Disabled Persons in Romania, analysing the current situation of the system of protection for persons with disabilities, several priorities were highlighted: support provided to families that take care of disabled people, meaning social services and legislation to ensure a decent living, and social integration for persons with disabilities, activity reduced yet by reasons like physical or communication barriers, prejudices and lack of trainings for labour market.
Since its establishment, in 1996, the European Disability Forum has continued to promote a comprehensive European disability directive that will protect disabled people from all forms of discrimination while strengthening their active role in society. However European legislation against discrimination only exists in the employment field, and, as we said, reaching the labor market for a disabled person is still difficult. An Italian research shows how disability influences a family poverty line: the phenomenon is more widespread in presence of serious disability. At the same time the research shows how the presence of facilities, education and social services decrease the influence of poverty for a family with a disabled person. Disabled people who can rely on an efficient health service and on a job are less at risk of poverty.
A European disability directive could help Member States in fighting discrimination against disabled people, stimulating all Member States adopting appropriate law initiatives and integrating disability issues in all main policies. This will help in break down prejudice and barriers which disabled people have to face every day.
1: http://ec.europa.eu/social/
2: http://www.edf-feph.org/Page_Generale.asp?DocID=12534