Sari Rautio and Csaba Borboly have called for a stronger EU approach to disability rights that combines full inclusion with individual choice and gives cities and regions the means to turn rights into reality.
Speaking during the European Committee of the Regions’ SEDEC Commission debate on Enhancing the strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities up to 2030, EPP-CoR members stressed the importance of inclusion, accessible employment and reducing unnecessary administrative burdens for persons with disabilities.
Sari Rautio, President of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions, drew on her personal experience as the mother of a son on the autism spectrum to underline the importance of inclusion and of giving people with disabilities a voice. “We Europeans understand how important inclusion is. We need to support and speak up for people with disabilities.” Rautio stressed that inclusion should be at the heart of Europe’s approach to disability rights and that people with disabilities should be able to participate fully in society.
Csaba Borboly, Vice President of Harghita, focused on employment and the need to recognise that different people may require different forms of support. European Committee of the Regions “Full inclusion in the open labour market must remain our goal. But inclusion cannot mean forcing the same solution on every person or every region. The key principle must be informed choice.”
Borboly argued that, while many persons with disabilities can work in the open labour market with appropriate support, others may benefit from social enterprises, cooperatives or adapted workplaces. Such arrangements, he stressed, must provide meaningful work and opportunities for personal development and must never result in exploitation or involuntary segregation.
He also called for simpler and more decentralised funding, with local and regional authorities given a clear mandate and adequate resources to build partnerships with public services, employers, schools, civil society and organisations representing persons with disabilities. On the European Disability Card, Borboly supported simpler and more proportionate procedures for people with permanent or long-term disabilities. “Where a condition is permanent, the card should have long-term validity or be renewed automatically, unless a review is objectively justified.”