At its last General Assembly meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2010, EASPD officially decided to launch a new Special Interest Group on Independent Living (Art. 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).
This Interest Group should help people with disabilities to find more and better information about existing residential services and housing types. Furthermore, support services should be revised and evaluated.
The Interest Group will investigate on the following issues:
· Shift in paradigm (UN convention, HR bases, focus on inclusion and citizenship)
· Increase in needs (ageing, fragmentation of families, waiting lists…)
· Decrease of budgets (crisis, market mechanism)
· Strong emphasis on quality and user involvement
· Availability of new technologies offering innovative solutions
As a network of providers, EASPD aims at a correct implementation of the UNCRPD. We also recognize the need for innovation and modernization in the 24/7 services sector. Independent living of persons with disabilities is only possible with the needed support services and systems available.
For further questions on this working group, please contact charlotte.boetticher@easpd.eu