Zero-Project-Conference-2012

It was indeed an honour and a pleasure (!) to participate in this very well organized and very innovative and interesting conference. The opportunity to share knowledge and to associate with so many people from different countries dealing with the same issues that we deal with, daily, was exciting and of high value. Thank you for this!

Some people came up to me after the Access to Justice session and we discussed some issues, so I hope the “Israeli” session has contributed to the discourse and more important – that it might have practical implications on some other states.

We will naturally be happy to help with next year’s report whenever you send us the questionnaire.

Fondest regards,

Esther Sivian

I have done some media following on from my attendance at the conference. I would indeed be interested in attending similar conferences in the future.

Please keep in touch.

Kind Regards,

Yours sincerely,

Senator Martin Conway

Zero-Project-Conference-2012|

I have to congratulate the organizers of the International Conference on Good Practices for Persons with Disabilities for this excellent conference. Presentations, contents, debates were of high level, venue design convincing and accessibility realized; support and service well based on the needs of the delegates and a fine catering. Thanks for all of this!

Focusing in next year’s conference on employment is just the correct choice! We would be happy to offer suggestions on good and innovative practice models from the area of employment for people with ID in Europe to contribute to the programme.

Best wishes,

Germain Weber

(President of Lebenshilfe Austria)

Zero-Project-Conference-2012-Charles-Siegal

Thank you for your note.  It was my pleasure to participate.  All of the arrangements, including the driver and the hotel (Trend Savoyen), were excellent.

I would like to participate next year and will try to submit materials related to employment issues.  I believe those are essential to the disability community.

Take care.

Charles Siegal

Zero-Project-Conference-2012

Thank you so much for setting up such an interesting and eyeopening event. It was a very well organized conference with a big variety of speakers. I found it especially useful during the sessions where the audience was allowed to ask questions.

Thank you also very much for letting me inform the audience about the conference www.ud2012.no we are going to arrange in Oslo June this year.

You are of course more than welcome to spread the word (ore link) through your channels.

I hope to see some of you in Oslo!

Best Regards,

Åse Kari Haugeto

Head

The Delta Centre  

National Resource Centre for Participation and Accessibility

Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs

More in German on http://www.bizeps.or.at/gleichstellung/

Swedish Personal Assistance Policy

Personal assistance has been described as ‘a revolution’ and is considered the most important achievement of the disability reform. The system of cash payments towards eligible individuals created a competitive market for personal assistance services consisting of about 15,900 assistance users, 230 local governments and over 1,100 private entities, these last employing a total of 60,000 (full-time equivalent) personal assistants.

It enabled assistance users and their family members to return to work and provides jobs to people who often would otherwise live on unemployment insurance. It has been estimated that taxpayers have saved a minimum of SEK29 billion since 1994, compared to the costs of local governments’ services!

Visit www.independentliving.org or www.enil.eu to know more about the independent living movement

That is why Sweden decided to expand this system on a national level. In 2010, 325 POs employed in over 100 businesses provided support to more than 6,000 individuals throughout the country. Interestingly, a personal support system was recently started also by Oslo and one currently operates in Helsinki. Cities such as San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney, Budapest, Riga and Prague have similar plans.

Visit www.po-skane.org

Italy-Inclusive-Education

Italy is, so far, the only European country in which almost all (99.6%) disabled pupils, out of a total of 170,000 (in 2007-2008), were included in mainstream schools.

In Italy inclusive education is achieved with the help of over 90,000 specialized teachers for learning support and an additional 25,000 educators employed by the schools. As well, physical barriers in access to schools have been almost eliminated. An amendment of 1999 concerned inclusive university settings and, as a result, an impressive 12,400 disabled students were enrolled in Italian universities in 2006, tripling within only six years!

Numbers for all European countries are available at www.european-agency.org

As established by the Investigation and Testimony Procedures Law, in Israel, a Special Investigator is now assisting police
interrogations of persons with disabilities.  In addition, the law provides for important adaptations to the testimony given in court, including the exemption from cross-examination as a witness.

From 2007 to 2010, there were 2,400 requestsfor special investigations. Almost 1,780 persons with intellectual disabilities were interrogated. The majority of the cases recorded – 78 percent – constituted victims of crime! Cases were brought to court which beforehand would have been dismissed.

Visit the website of BIZCHUT http://bizchut.org.il/en/