Ministry of Labour and Social Policies

MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL POLICIES

Department of Social and Welfare Policies

Speech

Hon. Minister

Roberto Maroni

European Parliament of Disabled People

(Brussels - European Parliament Hemicycle, 10-11 November 2003)

Mr President, Mrs Diamantopoulou, my fellow members, Mr Vardakastanis,

It is a great honour for me to be here today with you to celebrate the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 and to remember, ten years on, the first session of the European Parliament of Disabled People and the international community’s approval of the Standard Rules on disability.

Therefore I would like to express the Italian presidency and my own personal deepest appreciation of this key event; an all-important stop on the long, challenging path which has involved us coming together on many occasions during 2003 and seen the remarkable involvement of European, national, regional and local institutions together with associations and representatives of the private non-profit sector, industry and academic world. We are all making an extraordinary effort but this is an opportunity not to be missed in order to further boost the integration of disabled people. To grant them full citizenship, eliminate all forms of discrimination and assert the principle of complete access of all disabled people to all the aspects of a country’s life, without any discrimination and with the same conditions and opportunities for all.

Since 1993 the international community, European Community and individual member states have undoubtedly guaranteed disabled people the development of ongoing improvement of living conditions and movement towards full recognition and enjoyment of all individual rights and liberties.

For example, during that period in Italy (1992), the basic law, which at long last opened up the way to an innovative approach to disability, was approved – Framework Act No. 104 which still represents the sole base for any action in favour of disabled people. But if the European Union, i.e. all of us, felt it necessary to dedicate a year to disabled issues, it means that in spite of the results that have been achieved there is still much more to be done. There is no other area quite like that of disabilities where the goals reached are always relative and can never be considered as definitively achieved. Said goals must be moved forward continuously, paving the way for new challenges so as to be able to constantly take on board the needs of those who are faced with difficulties on a daily basis. And they must also take advantage of the contribution which societies’ progress can make to improving the quality of life of disabled people and truly integrating them into every area of life in the country where they live.

The dialogue between states and institutions, the constant dialogue with disabled people and their families must continue inside an enlarged Europe so as to create a set of shared rules, principles and good practices to promote and safeguard disabled people’s rights in order for them to achieve self-fulfilment inside all national systems. In short the defence of human rights. This is the first commitment that we must honour at the end of 2003.

Italy in its capacity as President of the European Union and EU member state has accepted the challenge of the year of the disabled by introducing a great number of activities and intensifying its own commitment, with a desire to be fully involved in all of this year’s events.

This is the reason why Italy has offered to host the European Year of People with Disabilities’ closing conference to be held in December. Said conference should sum up the initiatives carried out by member states and European institutions during this year, and above all outline the path to be followed “post 2003” so that the great efforts made are not undone but can, in the future, continue in a clearly defined direction within the framework of a wider Europe. The December conference will focus on non-discrimination issues (recognition, exercise and defence of rights), the definition of new forms of support for families living with disabled people and the access of all people to all areas.

Mr President,

Access and permanence in the world of work, lifelong training to support employability, recognition and full enjoyment of citizen’s rights for disabled people, access and use of technology and the removal of architectural barriers must, (as the European Commission clearly stated in its latest Communication), be the four key areas where the states will test their ability to successfully and effectively deal with disabled people’s specific needs, thus implementing at long last those principles which the international community has long since recognised.

In Italy the new legislative framework introduced with the Biagi Reform follows this direction and is in line with the objectives of consolidating active labour policies set by the Lisbon Council and renewed during the recent Brussels Council. Said objectives aim to increase the opportunities to access the labour market based on making optimal use of individual’s potential and abilities, ensure coherent refresher and re-training schemes and at long last break down the labour market’s restrictions. Labour market and welfare policies must increasingly be coordinated with social policies and hence structural policies in complete compliance with the principles of soundness and stability of public finance. In this sense an approach which aims more towards mainstreaming disability policies must be preferred in order to achieve the single, integrated, transversal vision needed to take into account the great variety of possibilities when analysing the world of disabilities. For our part, over the last few days, we have started up a working group including association members to check and, if need be, amend legislation regarding the inclusion of disabled people in the workplace, also with a view to setting up a specific monitoring unit.

But that is not all. During its term of office the Italian Presidency has tried to place particular attention on the family – a social entity with rights, a flywheel for the development of social cohesion, a decisive factor in the social inclusion of people at risk of marginalisation and the maintenance of intergenerational relations, and a part of the fight against social decline.

The family as an active party and leading actor in the organisation of a modern welfare system, also with regard to the transversal nature of its responsibilities and action targeted at the elderly, disabled and minors in particular.

This is the reason why the Italian programme for the achievement of the goals set forth in the EU Council’s Decision to establish the European Year placed particular importance on the enhancement of family responsibilities, inter-institutional collaboration and involvement in the work carried out by voluntary organisations and associations.

Families experience considerable difficulties in looking after people with serious disabilities which, as we all know, requires a constant commitment in terms of the care provided to disabled family members. Families have to deal with organisational problems on a daily basis, the problems of reconciling care with work commitments. Mismanagement of these situations often leads to stress, conflict, social and financial problems, forms of social isolation and a lower than normal quality of life for the whole family. The central role played by families in caring for disabled people is essential, especially as far as serious forms of disability are concerned. Families need to be given real support in the form of various types of coordinated activities offering targeted solutions to specific needs. All this needs to be done above all with the aim of strengthening the family organisation so as to ensure disabled people can benefit from a constant point of reference, which is supportive of their autonomy and independence, and a satisfactory quality of life. This must be the point of departure for a specific commitment regarding access to services, starting with access to information, and proper development of the services network in terms of quality and quantity over the years to come. All the above is even more applicable in the case of families with seriously disabled family members, in other words children who clearly need targeted action. The goal must be to encourage the disabled person to remain inside the family set-up without this becoming too much of a burden for the family members. For example Italian legislation focuses on the validity of personalised projects to achieve educational, social and professional integration by working closely with institutions and through what is referred to as taking responsibility for the disabled person and his/her family. In other words an integrated, ongoing process which must guarantee a set of coordinated activities to overcome situations that hinder the complete realisation of the disabled individual’s personality and his/her development. It is therefore one of the all-important factors in establishing and maintaining the relations between individuals, families, service systems and social environments.

Within this set-up, specific attention must be given to the situation of seriously and very seriously disabled people since said situation requires more in-depth study of the level of non-autonomy in relations and targeted action as well as knowledge of the reference environments.

The need for a different, improved defence of disabled people’s interests at a legal and financial level also seems to be obligatory. We sincerely hope that in this sense the Rome Conference serves to encourage all participant countries to introduce legislation at a national level. Italy’s parliament is already debating the draft bill and all the institutions concerned have shown their intent for this to become a state law by the end of 2003.

Mr President,

If, over the coming years, we are to test our ability to sustain the development of societies that can be accessed by all and where all people, disabled and able bodied, can enjoy full citizenship, I would now like to recall the main activities carried out by the Italian government during the European Year of People with Disabilities. And I would like to begin by reminding you that in 2003 Italy received the most prestigious international award in the field of disabilities from the American Roosevelt Foundation. The reason for this award states that it is in recognition of priority Italy has given over the last ten years to government action aimed at the social integration of disabled people. Said award is above all for the efforts made by Italian institutions and civil society to improve the quality of life of disabled citizens.

The event held in Bari to mark the opening of the European Year of People with Disabilities, which included the second conference on disabled policies, was followed by a large number of initiatives inside Italy that were developed through close working relationships involving different levels of governance and the civil society, production world, operators, voluntary service and all the other actors concerned. In this sense the European Year of People with Disabilities’ official website became a valuable tool of communication and information which reflected the image of an extraordinarily active country that cares about disability issues and is really involved in allowing disabled people to live their lives on an equal footing.

After having allocated the resources co-financed by the Commission to twenty-two highly innovative projects, we created the “Adopt a Project” initiative to publicise all the remaining approved projects (approximately 850) and encourage public and private organisations and institutions to lend them their support and ensure that the greatest number of projects dedicated to the objective set forth in the Council’s Decision are carried out. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policies became the promoter of said initiative by adopting about twenty projects.
Communication and media relations have been one of the major areas of interest in Italy this year due to the firm belief that widespread, accurate information and greater awareness and knowledge among social stakeholders (institutions, industry, private non-profit sector, etc.) of disabled people’s rights and opportunities can only be encouraged by actively involving the media. I was particularly pleased to learn that here in Brussels RAI had been praised on several occasions by institutions and associations for the valuable work it carries out to foster a more sincere relationship between the media and disabilities.
In particular the Ministry of Labour launched a detailed information and communication programme in the belief that the real integration of disabled people in society can only come about through the widespread diffusion of accurate knowledge among all the community, the removal of barriers – the most important of these being the cultural barriers – and a cultural change within society. Said change should, at long last, allow disabled people to be considered as citizens with equal rights and duties, with specific needs but also with great potential and abilities to offer. Therefore a detailed information and communication programme was launched together with RAI and RAI’s Social Secretariat. Radio and television programming has set aside a large space to be used for disability issues and the European Year in particular. Advertising campaigns have been put together thanks to the participation of well-known names from the world of show business that offered the use of their image to foster knowledge of the European Year of People with Disabilities.
We have launched a joint experimental project with research institutes, other administrations and regional and local authorities to introduce the new classification of disabilities (ICF) compiled by the World Health Organisation.
15 million Euro of funding has recently been granted for use on experimental projects to construct residential facilities for disabled people who have no proper family support. In this way it is planned to support specific experimental and innovative projects with the aim of helping make known throughout the country good practices regarding action in favour of seriously disabled people. Said projects must comply with some key principles such as the involvement in specific non-profit associations and organisations, services, care networks, and private non-profit sector including through associations or partnerships or by contributing to implementation costs, of a number of actors (public and private) based in the territory. Said projects must stand out for flexibility and personalisation in terms of their ability to adapt to individual needs. Funding will be for a maximum of 50% of the total coast in order to encourage promoters’ involvement and responsibilisation.
The proposals presented during the Bari conference can be found in the conference proceedings which form the basis of the working paper currently being examined by the individual administrations concerned. This paper represents the starting point for developing post 2003 policies and initiatives, in other words the first rough draft of an Action Plan.
Lastly major attention has also been given to the issue of technological innovation and a dedicated White Paper was approved in March which led to the draft bill currently being debated in parliament.
My Ministry has also made it possible to access the most important Italian website dedicated to care technology –Fondazione Don Gnocchi’s SIVA Portal. Since May 30 of this year everybody has been able to directly access the portal from the Ministry’s website.
Finally, as you well know, Italy was one of the first countries to implement Directive No. 78/2000 which outlines a staff organisation model to guarantee equal opportunities in the world of work. And we will focus our attention on the issue of non-discrimination in the near future in order to broaden our vision with a view to creating a specific tool for non-discrimination with regard to disabilities.

Mr President,

We firmly intend to maintain a high level of commitment to disabled people post 2003. To this end, we would like to express, as of now, our deepest approval of the recent Communication presented by the Commission because this new, valuable tool will help member states and the new states set to join the European Union deal more efficiently with the challenges that lie in wait following the end of this European Year of People with Disabilities.

Lastly major attention must be given to the initiative launched by the United Nations to define a new conventional tool which ensures disabled people full enjoyment of all the rights and liberties guaranteed at an international level, without any disability discrimination.

Thank you for your attention.