Promoting a more robust citizenship for persons with disabilities

The EU funded project DISCIT (Making persons with disabilities full citizens - new knowledge for an inclusive and sustainable European social model) is identifying conditions that prevent the persons with disabilities from taking full advantage of their rights as citizens in the EU.

Active citizenship for people with disabilities can be explained in reference to three categories: security, autonomy and influence. Security can mean fulfilling social obligations, avoiding poverty traps or inappropriate conditions for receiving cash or services, and participation promoting individual or collective security efforts. Living independently in a community and participating in paid work are all pathways to autonomy. Persons with disabilities can influence their own environment by participation in discussions with relevant authorities/service providers to influence the quality and content of personal services.

Using the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), DISCIT has identified ways to more effectively remove and prevent physical, attitudinal, social and organisational barriers to active citizenship. The team collected information and experiences to synthesise policy lessons from a strategic sample of European states.

The results provided new insights into how the EU can support Member States and affiliated European countries. The project published a study on the feasibility of remodelling data sets from selected surveys in DISCIT countries. DISCIT collected, reviewed, synthesised and published additional information on numerous related disability topics.

DISCIT is currently participating, presenting and discussing the results of the project at international and national workshops and conferences. A number of new policy briefs will be published soon and distributed through the website. Also in the works is a dissemination event on how to enhance equal participation of persons with disabilities as workers, customers and consumers.

To strengthen impact, DISCIT is working on expanding the ongoing collaboration and dialogue with National Stakeholder Committees and other stakeholders at national and European levels. Plans are being made for implementing a final conference in Brussels in November 2015.

All these activities and more will contribute to a new understanding of disabilities to help reduce barriers to integration and increase participation on equal terms.