The European disability movement launched the EDF Manifesto on the European Elections 2024: “Building an inclusive future for persons with disabilities in the EU” in 2023. The Manifesto testifies the need for strong, concrete actions until 2030 to ensure equality for persons with disabilities.

The strategy is divided into eight chapters that cover different areas where the EU aims to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, the last three of which focus on how to deliver the strategy in practice and measure its impact. These are:

1. Accessibility – an enabler of rights, autonomy and equality
2. Enjoying EU Rights
3. Decent quality of life and living independently
4. Equal Access and non-discrimination
5. Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities globally
6. Efficiently delivering the strategy
7. Leading by example
8. Awareness, governance and measuring progress

The strategy also identifies “flagship initiatives”: initiatives such as laws or the creations of permanent bodies that will have a stronger long-term impact.On the basis of the Manifesto – and taking into account the current structure of the European Disability Rights Strategy – the European Disability Forum calls on the European Commission to propose the initiatives described below.

Our demands in full

Check our complete Position paper: “EU Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030: actions for 2025 onwards”, to understand our detailed demands

We propose 8 new flagship initiatives to implement until 2030.

Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee

Establish a Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee, inspired by the successful Youth Guarantee, to provide funding and support to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to mainstream education, training and employment opportunities, including self-employment and entrepreneurship. The Guarantee should also offer support in making every training and skills-development programme fully inclusive and accessible.

In order to meet the needs of persons with disabilities, the Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee would need to have some considerable differences with the Youth Guarantee. Notably:

• It should be open to people who are receiving disability allowance and allow them to retain this allowance when in work, training or education. The fact of being the recipient of disability allowance should not result in the person in question not being considered to be a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) as is currently the case for the Youth Guarantee;
• The age restriction should of course be lifted, as barriers to the open labour market for persons with disabilities are often experienced throughout a person’s entire life;
• Extra resources should be on offer, from the funding attached to the Disability Employment Guarantee, to assist in providing reasonable accommodations for the person at work (since in most EU Member States reimbursement of costs for reasonable accommodation to employers are only subsidised for employees with a permanent contract).
• The Guarantee would need to very carefully clarify about which types of work settings people can be supported into as part of the scheme. Excluded from the scope of the Guarantee should be sheltered workshops exclusively for persons with disabilities where workers do not have the legal status of employee and are not paid in line with national, regional or sectoral minimum wage requirements. Emphasis should be on placements in the open labour market, or in social enterprises that support people into mainstream forms of employment, focusing on transition.

The EU in its next Multiannual Financial Framework should increase the budget going towards the European Social Fund, to ensure that inclusion of new social initiatives does not dilute spending elsewhere.

European Agency for Accessibility

Establish a new regulatory European agency for accessibility, based on and building upon the work of the AccessibleEU centre, to support the implementation of all EU harmonised accessibility legislation and continue advancing towards a more accessible Europe. The agency could take inspiration from the US Access Board, and other relevant national agencies. 

The responsibilities of the agency can include:

• To provide EU institutions and policymakers, and Member States with specialised information on accessibility;
• To provide policy recommendations based on scientific evidence and input from the most affected groups, such as persons with disabilities and older people;
• To adopt accessibility technical specifications (i.e. standards) in support of specific EU policies and legislation, and in consultation with rights holders and stakeholders;
• To support Member States and EU institutions to implement accessibility standards;
• To carry out monitoring of accessibility legislation;
• To raise awareness of the importance of accessibility for inclusive societies;
• To hold regular contact with persons with disabilities through their representative organisations, accessibility professionals (architects, engineers, designers, ICT professionals…), academia, and industry.

The tasks of such an agency could include:

• Training: provide training for professionals in different domains, EU and national public officials and the disability community;
• Coordination with other EU agencies, such as the Body of European Regulators on Electronic Communications (BEREC) or the European Rail Agency;
• Coordination and support to enforcement and redress mechanisms: at national level (e.g. Market Surveillance Authorities responsible for the Accessibility Act) and EU level (e.g. assisting the EU Ombudsman on enquiries related to accessibility);
• Research: conduct studies/projects looking into innovative ways to implement accessibility;
• Collaboration at a global level: with other similar bodies (e.g. UN CRPD committee, US Access Board; W3C-Web Accessibility Initiative, etc.);

Fund for accessibility in the new European plan on affordable housing

When announcing her commitments for the new Commission mandate, President Von Der Leyen shared her vision for a new focus on tackling the EU’s housing crisis. This included a new Commissioner for Housing, an action Plan on affordable housing, investments for affordable and energy efficient housing and a reform of State Aid rules to support affordable and energy-efficient housing.

As well as the actions above, we are calling on the European Commission, in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, to establish a fund for accessible housing within the framework of EU cohesion funding. The aim should be to create new affordable and accessible housing in the community, as well as to retrofit existing properties to make them accessible where possible.

All the proposed actions above must imperatively include a clear focus on the accessibility of housing stock for persons with disabilities and older people. The inaccessibility of housing is a key reason for people having to leave their home against their will. Accessible housing is in desperately short supply in Europe, and typically imposes far greater costs on tenants and buyers.

When the action plan proposed by President Von Der Leyen takes shape, it is extremely important that it be an action plan for accessible and affordable housing.

The new Commissioner for housing, in their cabinet, must also have a cabinet member who is knowledgeable on accessibility of housing for persons with disabilities and older people.

 

Legislation on the affordability of assistive technology

Introduce legislation to guarantee the availability and affordability of assistive technologies for persons with disabilities in the EU single market, building upon the investigation carried out by the Commission in 2024.

Such legislation should tackle the situation that certain national certification schemes prevent persons with disabilities from accessing the most suitable piece of assistive technology for them (see EDF paper on assistive technologies). This legislation should:

• Ensure that Assistive Technologies (AT) economic operators and users fully take advantage of the EU internal single market and benefit from the free movement of products and services. This means to set up a joint mechanism for the mutual certification of relevant AT across countries.
• Guarantee that Member States facilitate accessible information on available AT and measures ensuring their affordability.
• Establish an independent centre at national level to support in the selection of AT, taking into account the experience and expectations of the users, as well as the context of use of the AT. Such centres should have a person-centred approach about the selection, use and maintenance of AT.
• Introduce further flexibility, ease and speed within the national AT delivery models.
• Encourage research on innovative assistive solutions taking advantage of emerging technologies.

Guarantee the participation of organisations of persons with disabilities so AT are developed, deployed and funded with full consideration of users’ needs and experiences.

 

Directive for full freedom of movement of persons with disabilities

Introduce a Directive on the shared responsibility of Member States for disability support towards EU citizens moving from one Member State to another for the long term.

the law allows persons with disabilities to retain coverage from one’s Member State of origin through “portability” of one’s benefits until the moment that the citizen has established residence in a new Member State and has undergone the new disability assessment procedure.

As well as an agreement on a person’s Member State of origin continuing to fund their support until they have been assessed and recognised as a person with disabilities in their new Member State of residence, there must also be a mechanism, supported with EU funds, to offset any differences in disability allowances and personal budgets between Member States, and to ensure that whatever a person receives in financial support is adequate and proportionate to the cost of living wherever they are based.

Finally, the Directive should also put further responsibilities on the new Member State of residence not to allow undue delays in the reassessment of a person’s disability. A decision on their status and the recognition of their disability status in the system of the new country of residence should be done within a reasonable timeframe and give them access as soon as possible to the services that are available to them there.

EU Strategy on the transition from institutions to inclusion in the community

Building on the EU Guidance on Independent Living and Inclusion in the Community, develop an EU Strategy on the transition from institutions to inclusion in the community, and act against the segregation of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities. Additionally, ensure and guarantee appropriate measures and support for the transition from institutions to independent living and community-based services, allowing for the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in the community. The strategy should foresee the following:

• How the EU and the Member States can regularly update and make publicly available the data on the number of persons with disabilities living in institutions
• Obligations to better monitor projects for independent living using EU funds, to ensure they do not perpetuate institutional care, including the use of development funding going outside of the EU
• Technical support to national and local authorities on preparing for the transition away from institutions
• Training for service providers to move towards person-centred support and respect of the CRPD
• Financial support for the “cost of transition”
• Information campaigns to persons with disabilities, and current residents of institutions, on their options and choices outside of institutional care
• Campaigns to attract people to become personal assistants and to improve working conditions in the sector
• Support to national and local authorities to set up direct payment systems to persons with disabilities for their personal assistance budget
• Support to families and informal carers

Strong action on ending forced sterilisation

EDF calls for the strong action to end forced sterilisation, which would include prevention, prohibition, sanction and remedies.

After the adoption of the Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence which failed to include the criminalisation of forced sterilisation, the European Disability Forum renews its call on the EU and Member States to:

• Criminalise forced sterilisation with no exception based on disability or legal capacity;
• Create an action plan to end forced sterilisation, including public apology, rehabilitation, reparation (including economic reparation), and guarantee of non-repetition
• The plan should enforce measures at EU and Member States levels to prevent forced sterilisation, ensure equal access to sexual and reproductive rights, and ensure access to justice, including reporting, as well as adequate criminal sanctions, and compensation for victims;
• Encourage all EU Member States to ratify the Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women.

Disability Action Plan in EU External Action 

Adopt a Disability Action Plan in EU External Action, similar to the Youth Action Plan in External Action, to ensure disability-inclusion in EU external action

A Disability Action Plan could offer a critical framework for European institutions, including EU Delegations and Member States, to adopt a more disability-inclusive approach in their external action activities, encompassing both international cooperation and humanitarian efforts.

The Action Plan should cover five main thematic areas:

1. Respecting and mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities
2. Ensuring funding mechanisms and clear monitoring
3. Ensuring full and effective participation and accessibility
4. Developing and implementing fully inclusive policy and programmes
5. Strengthening internal and external disability inclusive cooperation, coordination and partnership

The outcomes of such a plan would ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are fully respected and systematically integrated into all EU external action policies and programmes. All EU-funded initiatives for external action would adhere to the principles of the CRPD. Persons with disabilities and their representative organisations would meaningfully participate in all EU external action decision-making processes on an equal basis with others. Their full and measurable inclusion would be guaranteed in all policies, guidance, and implementation of EU external action activities.

Finally, EU institutions, Member States, and partners would collaborate in a consistent and coordinated manner toward disability inclusion, fostering internal synergy in alignment with international standards and frameworks. Ultimately, the EU would position itself as a global leader in disability-inclusive external actions.

It is essential that the EU Institutions invest sufficient resources to ensure the proposed flagships make a significant impact in the life of persons with disabilities.

This is why it is essential that the EU Institutions strengthen their decision-making on disability issues. We demand:

• Ensure strong services focusing on disability rights in the European Commission through the creation of a new Directorate-General for Equality and Fundamental Rights under the
• The establishment of an Equality Configuration in the Council.
• Ensure the next EU budget properly funds civil society organisations working on equality, non-discrimination and anti-racism.