Inclusion Europe Radio

00:00 Welcome to Inclusion Europe Radio

00:29 Meet Peter Frelin: Disability Debrief

01:12 The Accidental Journalist

01:55 Disability Debrief: A Global Perspective

03:00 Challenges and Insights in Disability Reporting

09:24 Navigating Social Media and Community Building

14:38 The Importance of Storytelling in Advocacy

20:38 Shifting the Conversation: Advocacy on Our Terms

21:52 Challenges of Justifying Disability Worth

22:43 Employment Issues and Proving Capability

23:53 Breaking Segregation and Institutionalisation

26:02 Government Policies and Disability Rights

26:16 Global Regression in Disability Support

28:10 The Role of Disability Organisations

31:13 Funding and Sustainability Challenges

37:28 Innovative Representation and Advocacy

40:00 Concluding Thoughts and Future Conversations

The current director of Inclusion International talks about disability rights advocacy and her future role in Disability Rights Fund.

Key points discussed include the importance of self-advocacy, the progress in topics such as deinstitutionalisation and inclusive education, and the need for practical tools for policy advocacy. The discussion also highlights the shift from simple awareness to active engagement and implementation of policies. The episode further explores the significance of plain language for broader participation and the evolving leadership within the disability movement. The executive director also talks about their upcoming role with the Disability Rights Fund and its objectives. Finally, they discuss the plans and expectations for the upcoming World Congress of Inclusion International.

00:00 Introduction and welcome

00:13 Global Disability Summit insights

01:50 Challenges and achievements in advocacy

02:33 The Role of self-advocates

05:25 Future directions and leadership

12:40 Importance of clear communication

14:32 Ongoing Issues and future challenges

19:15 Development challenges and knowledge sharing

20:10 Advocacy and practical solutions

21:04 Inclusive education and government criticism

23:33 Simplifying communication and expertise

26:03 Future leadership and network investment

30:44 New role and disability rights fund

33:37 World Congress and future Plans

Hanna Solovei, Raisa Kravchenko and Olena Tsarenko are representatives of Ukrainian people with intellectual disabilities and their families. They visited Brussels to present the situation in their country, discuss how it needs to be improved, and to learn about the work being done in other countries.

00:37 Sue Swenson's Journey: From Mother to Advocate

01:25 The Kennedy Fellowship and Legislative Impact

04:04 Challenges and Triumphs in Advocacy

08:37 The Role of Family and Personal Growth

12:28 Empowering Self-Advocates and Building Community

15:59 Personal Stories and Reflections

20:13 Charlie's Influence and Legacy

24:04 A High School Theater Journey

25:51 Charlie's Impact on Education

27:23 Inclusion and Social Norms

28:41 The Importance of Plain Language

29:34 Democracy and Disability Advocacy

30:49 The Role of Representative Organizations

32:32 The Power of Grassroots Movements

33:52 The Developmental Disabilities Act

39:51 Deinstitutionalization and Education

44:03 Global Perspectives and Personal Stories

47:38 Final Thoughts and Reflections

[00:01:40] - What are the Inclusion indicators?

[00:05:03] - Key findings

[00:10:15] - Challenges in data collection

**[00:02:08] - Challenges faced by people with intellectual disabilities**

Soufiane highlights barriers like stigma, communication challenges, inaccessible spaces, and fear of backlash from caregivers.

**[00:03:22] - Strategies for impactful self-advocacy**

Soufiane suggests collaboration with other organisations, sharing personal stories, engaging policymakers, and using social media. Leadership skills and clear goals are crucial.

**[00:04:40] Promoting inclusivity in self-advocacy groups**

Soufiane emphasises providing easy-to-understand information, ensuring diversity, sharing decision-making roles, and building long-term relationships with policymakers.

**[00:08:17] Challenges with tokenism and accessibility**

Guillaume shares examples of self-advocates facing tokenism and inaccessible public events, highlighting the importance of proper preparation and meaningful participation.

**[00:12:04] Advice for new self-advocates**

Guillaume encourages joining experienced groups, building confidence through collective action, and sharing personal stories to drive change.

**[00:14:23] Success stories in advocacy**

Guillaume provides a few examples and best practices to inspire listeners.

00:21 Overview of Breaking Barriers Program

01:14 Enable Scotland's Operational Pillars

04:15 Breaking Barriers: Program Details

05:14 University Experience and Challenges

09:17 Work Experience and Graduation

16:26 Employer Perspective: Scottish Power

25:06 Benefits and Impact of Breaking Barriers

30:35 Funding and Sustainability

33:49 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

[1:35:8] Who’s Elisabeth Lamers and how she started her work

[4:17:2] What comes after a child with disabilities finishes school?

[6:24:7] When Elisabeth joined UNAPEI

[10:09:0] How UNAPI works

[12:49:9] Self-advocacy in UNAPEI

[18:02:2] The survey

[31:41:3] UNAPEI’s purposes

[40:09:7] The achievements of UNAPEI

[1:30:0] The beginning of the story. A journey of commitment and passion

[8:35:0] Jyrki joins Inclusion Finland

[9:43:0] When Jyrki realises that getting services for children with disabilities can be hard

[13:01:00] Start of advocacy

[15:46:0] The efforts of Jyrki arrives to the politicians

[19:52:0] The work that’s left to do for people with disabilities

[27:34:0] The application of the UNCRPD

[49:31:0] Parents of children with disabilities

[54:07:0] The importance of Inclusion Europe and the other organisations

Conversation with former President of Inclusion Europe, Maureen Piggot.

Time stamps:

[00:00:42] Maureen’s youth and her first approach to disabilities 

[00:07:51] Maureen’s work with Mencap 

[00:13:13] Disability awareness in 1988 and today 

[00:16:23] The parents movement and the Disability Discrimination Act 

[00:36:41] The importance of self-advocacy and deinstitutionalisation 

[00:55:03] Maureen’s experience in Inclusion International 

One of the many challenges that people with intellectual disabilities face is technology and more specifically surfing the web. This is why we invited, Inge Rutsaert from AnySurfer to talk about how to facilitate web navigation for people with intellectual disability.

Camilla Lindholm and Ulla Vanhatalo are professors and researchers at the University of Tampere and the University of Helsinki, respectively, and they wrote a book about easy languages in Europe.

Neil Crowther is a freelance consultant from the United Kingdom. He previously worked for the Disability Rights Commission and the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK.

[02:22] What is social care future?

[07:09] Pillars of social care

[11:37] NGOs have to help people understand, picture, and visualise the world we are advocating for

[16:43] Hopeful communication of social care future

[20:05] Using words that everybody understands

[22:37] Showing the results and [24:24] raising expectations

[26:09] How was the communication research conducted?

[38:13] How is social care relevant for people in need amidst the work on communication?

[40:38] We need the existing resources to be used much more effectively

[45:01] Disability rights when ageing

[55:58] Social care as relationship-centred support

[01:00:23] The visual story

Milan Šveřepa, director of Inclusion Europe interviewed Simo Vehmas and Reetta Mietola, authors of the book Narrowed Lives.

Harry Roche from Inclusion International interviews Soufiane El Amrani about the impact of Russian war on Ukraine and how is Inclusion Europe helping its members.

Julie Beadle-Brown and Jan Šiška talk about their book, The Development, Conceptualisation and Implementation of Quality in Disability Support Services.

On the 8 March, Milan Šveřepa spoke with Adam Zawisny from our member in Poland PSONI. They talked about Ukrainian refugees with disabilities, and how organisations in Poland are helping. 

Soufiane El Amrani interviewed László Bercse, vice-president of Inclusion Europe, about what kind of Europe we want and how can we achieve it

Jan Savage, director of ENABLE Scotland talks about their work and impact on self-advocacy groups

Sebastian Foreman talks about the Campaign4Change and he reads a poem he wrote about living in isolation during the pandemic

This year, because of the pandemic situation, the Hear our Voices Conference was different.

Self-advocates from all over Europe got together in their own countries and organised several events to talk about how was it for them to go through the COVID-19 situation.

We interviewed Valerie Van Hees for Inclusion Europe Radio. Valerie is the coordinator for the Support Centre of Inclusive Higher Education in Flanders, Belgium. The support centre for higher education was founded in 2009 when Belgium ratified the UN convention for persons with disabilities.

Houston Vandergriff was born with Down Syndrome. While many doctors told his parents that he wouldn’t be able to achieve much in life, Houston, at age 23, has managed to chase his passion for photography, winn awards for his work, and inspire countless people along the way. Houston and his mother Katie joined us on Inclusion Europe Radio to talk about Houston’s journey.

Melanie Wimmer talks about her use of social media in her work as a self-advocate, her job at Atempo and difficulties faced in education and later in employment.

Myrto and Soufiane spoke about daily life
and employment for people with disabilities.

Myrto and Soufiane also talked about COVID-19
and the way COVID-19 has changed the employment of
people with intellectual disabilities.

Soufiane spoke about how important it is
for people with intellectual disabilities to have a job
and make their own money.