International Day of Persons with Disabilities
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) is a UN day that is celebrated every year on 3 December.
More than 1 billion people worldwide experience disability, and this number is growing, driven by increased numbers of people with noncommunicable diseases, who are also living longer and ageing with limitations in functioning.
The day is about promoting the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities at every level of society and development, and to raise awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of political, social, economic, and cultural life.
EMEA Supports International Day of Persons with Disabilities
The European ME Alliance supports the United Nation’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities. We urge countries around the world to officially recognize ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ (ME/CFS) as a severely disabling neurological disease which leaves the majority of patients unable to work, and 25% of patients house- or bedbound, often in pain and too weak to care for themselves or their loved ones.
We call on national and European authorities to provide urgently needed biomedical research funding to identify a diagnostic test, biomarkers, treatments and a cure, which are currently lacking for this high burden and under-prioritized disease.
ME/CFS has been acknowledged as a disease of the nervous system by the World Health Organization since 1969 and confirmed as a somatic illness by the 2015 US Institute of Medicine Report on ME/CFS, Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness .
Therefore, we call on medical professionals and social services to support this extremely vulnerable patient population and to shield them from stigma and discrimination. Physicians should use the WHO disease classification code 8E49 (ICD-11) (which maps to the ICD-10 code G93.3) when diagnosing the illness using a clinical evaluation according to existing diagnostic guidelines.
For International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the EMEA joins over 100 organisations to urge EU Commissioner Lahbib to “keep the momentum” on disability rights
The European ME Alliance (EMEA), as a member of the European Disability Forum, is supporting the inclusion of actions in the EU Disability
Rights Strategy that address the needs of people with ME (sometimes referred to as ME/CFS), because ME is a severely
disabling disease even
in its mildest form.
The EDF statement follows -
Disability movement worried about the lack of actions in the EU’s Disability Rights Strategy
Over 100 European disability organisations are urging the European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib to update the EU Disability Rights Strategy in an open letter sent today, International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
The Strategy was launched in 2021 and runs until 2030, It has guided the Commission to important achievements such as the European Disability Card law, but there were only detailed actions until the end of this year., As of now, all planned actions have been completed or are near completion – and there has been no commitment to update it for the remainder of the Strategy’s lifespan. The organisations are extremely concerned that this will represent a complete stalling of the EU’s commitment to disability rights for the next 5 years.
The European Disability Forum had already raised the alarm when the Commission’s political guidelines failed to mention disability rights. This worry was compounded when the Equality portfolio was downgraded in the College of the Commissioners and by Commissioner Lahbib’s fleeting reference to the Strategy during her confirmation hearing, and her failure to commit to updating it when questioned.
The current (and past) Strategies have charted advances to disability rights, such as the European Disability Card legislation, the European Accessibility Act or the Accessible EU Centre. All these initiatives were outlined in the EU’s Disability Rights Strategies before they were implemented.
The need for an updated Strategy is therefore evident, with the European Disability Forum having released a proposal for actions for the next 5 years. The actions signal the need for new legislation on assistive technology, action on employment with a Disability Employment and Skills Guarantee and ensuring accessible, affordable housing with a European Fund to ensure accessibility in the new European plan on affordable housing – among others.
Organisations are now calling for a firm commitment to update the Strategy as soon as possible. This commitment needs to be secured ahead of a planned review in March by UN experts on the EU’s efforts to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum – which initiated the letter - said:
“The Commission told us that they are not downgrading the Equality portfolio, but we need action to prove it – not only words. We look forward to meeting Commissioner Lahbib and obtaining her commitment to work together on an updated European Disability Rights Strategy, with new strong actions.”Related documents
- “Open letter to EU’s Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib: keep up the momentum on disability rights!”
- EDF’s campaign page “Update the EU Disability Rights Strategy”
Additional Information
Contacts
André Félix
Communications Coordinator
andre.felix@edf-feph.org
Last Update: December 2024