European Network on Independent Living
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) started in 1989 when over 100 persons from 14 countries came together in Strasbourg, France to attend the European Conference on Personal Assistance Services for Disabled People. This conference was organized by the international disability movement with the support of GRAEL in the Rainbow Group in the European Parliament and the German Green party[1] and resulted in the Strasbourg Declaration.[2] Personal assistance was a relatively new concept at the time and people with high dependency needs were very interested. Personal assistance, being a service when a chosen person assists a disabled person with activities of daily living, would prove a tool to allow a person with disability in need, access to society and full participation. ENIL was founded after this conference as a European wide network of disabled people. Adolf Ratzka was among the founders and became the first president of the organization. The informal network grew until ENIL established itself more formally with a secretariat in Valencia, Spain that was moved to Dublin in June 2012.
ENIL represents a forum intended for all disabled people and is considered a cross-disability organisation. Members come from countries stretching from Iceland to Bulgaria and from Finland to Cyprus. Independent living organizations and their non-disabled allies participate in the forum on the issues of independent living and the independent living movement. ENIL promotes social inclusion based on solidarity and the social model of disability. ENIL works for the empowerment of disabled people through peer support and peer counseling which have been tools of the Independent Living movement since the beginning in the 60s. Peer support evolved from the Alcoholics Anonymous movement being an exchange of experience and a support tool. Through peer support disabled people exchange experience and learn how to advocate successfully as the society is most often inaccessible and excludes them from participation.
Important issues on the ENIL agenda are those of the ratification and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), de-institutionalization, democracy, discrimination, accessibility, self-representation and self-determination.
ENIL addresses the under-representation of persons with extensive disabilities in European disability politics and social organizations as well as mainstream society. ENIL believes in full citizenship and human rights for disabled people. ENIL's vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Background
The Independent Living movement began in Berkeley, California in 1972 where the first Center for Independent Living was founded by disability rights activists, encouraged by the African-American civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement.
Applying the principles of human rights to people with disabilities, the Independent Living movement claims that people of any age and with any disability:
- have a right to live in the community, as opposed to living in an institution;
- have a right to the same range or choices as everybody else in housing, transportation, education and employment;
- have a right to participate in the social, economic and political life of their communities;
- have a right to have a family and to live as responsible and respected members of their communities with all the duties and privileges that this entails, and to unfold their potential.
The Independent Living movement promoted the change in the subject of disability from being a welfare topic to a human rights topic; from the medical model to the social model of disability. The medical model defines someone with a disability as a "patient"; the social model defines people with disabilities as "consumers".
Embracing the social model of disability, the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) recognizes people with disabilities as expert consultants for the design, development and management of disability services. ENIL believes that people with disability have a right to quality community-based services and a right to personal assistance.
ENIL is a member of the European Disability Forum.[3] EDF is considered the main disability organization for cooperation with the European Commission. Both ENIL and EDF cooperate with the European Parliament's Intergroup - or the committee for disability issues. ENIL is also a member of the Fundamental Rights Agency.
Strasbourg Freedom Drives
The ENIL Strasbourg Freedom Drives takes place every second year in Strasbourg, France with the 2013 Drive marking ten-years with the Freedom Drive. This events gathers hundreds of people from the independent living movement. During this event which has developed into a week of activity, ENIL members and supporters march to the European Parliament to present results of signature campaigns and demands to the EU Parliament and the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). An International conference is held covering issues such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), personal assistance and de-institutionalization. The event is an opportunity for advocacy and awareness raising on independent living. During the event that took place in 2011 the members of ENIL met with about 85 MEPs which received information on independent living and the situation of disabled people in the EU member states.
See also
- Disability rights movement
- Intellectual disability
- List of disability rights activists
- Self-advocacy
- Visitability - Social Integration Beyond Independent Living
- E-Inclusion