Launch of the campaign 1million4disability.eu
Tuesday, 23 January 2007
On 23 January 2007, in Brussels, the European Disability Forum (EDF) will launch its new European Campaign ‘1million4disability.eu’
The nine month campaign will see the EDF and its member organisations - covering 29 European countries - working together to collect one million signatures in favour of the protection of disabled people’s rights.
A wide percentage of the 50 million disabled people represented by EDF at European Union level encounter insurmountable barriers to access quality education, housing or the labour market.
Disabled people are denied the right to move around freely; to go to work; to a restaurant; to theatres; to cinemas; to libraries; to shops; to meet friends, or any other daily activity, due to inaccessible public transport, pavements and / or buildings.
The “1million4disability.eu” campaign, which is led by disabled people, and the parents of disabled people who are unable to represent themselves, aims to motivate European public opinion and the opinion of decision-makers on this serious situation.
Through the collection of signatures, EDF is sending a strong message to the EU policy-makers on the need to reinforce the current legal framework in order to effectively protect the rights of disabled people, as well as on the necessity to develop a coordinated approach among the Member States.
The website, www.1million4disability.eu, will be officially launched on the evening of Tuesday 23rd January. It has been created for the collection of signatures and the dissemination of the campaign. It which will be officially closed on the 4th of October 2007.