Disability news and resources in Europe
This page lists the countries in Europe with resources and recent highlights.
Countries
- Europe
- Albania
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kosovo
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
- Western Balkans
Recent Highlights
In Europe:
Stories and voices of women and girls with disabilities winners of a photo competition. (Mar, EDF)
Europe's hidden shame: documentary on forced sterilisation of women with disabilities. “They took me to hospital without telling me anything.” See also a feature article. (2023, Euronews)
In France:
Debate over closure of establishments for disabled people has stalled. “Emmanuel Macron recently advocated "deinstitutionalization", while emptying the term of its meaning.” (In French, 2023, Libération) See discussion on the Debrief.
The Council of Europe denounces violation of rights of people with disabilities by the French State:
“The Council of Europe has now declared the lack of support and shortage of support services, socio-economic injustices, difficulty in accessing housing and health care, but also the refusal of schooling. The freedom and dignity of people with disabilities are hindered, their rights are violated by the French state.” (2023, Inclusion Europe)
In Greece:
Tourism for disabled people has obstacles “Holidays are like a battle plan" (In Greek, 2023, Dikaioma)
In Poland:
People with Disabilities Push for Access to Personal Assistance “Last Saturday, dozens of people dressed in black carried a coffin through the streets of Warsaw to the presidential palace.” (2023, Human Rights Watch)
In Romania:
Romania horrified by inhumane abuse in care centres for disabled “an investigation revealed that a well-established criminal network involving state officials and private individuals ran “Nazi camps-style” care centres for disabled people who were left to starve without food or care.” (2023, Euractiv)
In Sweden:
Disability, Gender and Hiring Discrimination: an experiment sending 2,000 job applications found that “nondisabled applicants receive 33 percent more callbacks than similarly qualified wheelchair users despite applying for jobs where the impairment should not interfere with performance” (2023, IZA Institute of Labour Economics)
In the Ukraine:
Families Find a Way: report on families and children in the midst of war. (2023, Disability Rights International)
In the United Kingdom:
Stop trying to recruit unicorns with acorns. Incisive description of how accessibility roles are undervalued, underfunded, and incorrectly designed:
“I've seen it time and time again. People hire an accessibility specialist because it's a hot topic and it's always good publicity. But then they just leave that person to drown in an environment and an organisation where they are not supported.” (Jan, Craig Abbott)
Turning the tide: Debrief feature on fighting for equality when rights are eroded:
“I often feel that we’re going backwards. And some days it’s easy to think we made no progress. But that’s too simple. Our previous gains have put us in a different situation. The civil servants I talk to today have a much better understanding of disability from those I talked to thirty years ago. Disability-related supports can be undermined but the government would find it hard to take them away entirely. Today’s battles are different.” (2023, Disability Debrief)
An uphill battle from day one: “Non-disabled women are twice as likely as disabled women to have the person they accuse of rape charged or summonsed.” (2023, Now Then Magazine)
Asylum seekers with disabilities ‘abandoned’ in former Essex care home. One advocate described this as “putting them in a dustbin and putting the lid on. But what they need is help. What is going on is unpardonable”. (2023, the Guardian)
Signs for Change review of a beautiful documentary by Rose Ayling-Ellis. See also an interview with Rose: “Nobody deaf in this country has the profile I have. I just want to get it right.” (2023, the Guardian)
Rights on Flights: the new campaign seeking to make air travel more accessible. Exchange with Sophie Morgan. (2023, National Geographic)