|
MY OPINION MY VOTE
1ST USERS MEETING, BRUSSELS
(28th January – 1st February)
4 persons with learning disability from each of the 6 participating countries convened in Brussels to test the first units of the Educational Programme. While they were there they also visited the European Parliament and meet with MEP representatives from their own countries, whom they informed about the project and asked about the political rights of persons with learning disability. At the European Commission they had a presentation about the workings of the Commission and the EU strategy on the inclusion of people with disabilities. They also had round table discussions with the European Disability Forum and Inclusion Europe.
Here are some quotes from participants of the Brussels meeting: ”However
my experience of going abroad alone was a very good one. It was
exciting, meeting new people from different countries and meeting Dr
Simon Busuttil... In European Parliament we met Dr Simon Busuttil and
asked him questions about the parliament. The next day we met groups
from different countries to talk about voting rights. We also had a
tour around parliament. It was an interesting visit and I am looking
forward to going abroad again with my friends.”
Maria Zarb, Malta
“I have gone to Bruxelles in order to have a new experience, go into politics as a disabled person.”
“We
have met a person who had spoken about people with disabilities, she
said that people with disabilities had the right to work, to vote and
to manage their salary.”
This project is relevant for me, because…
“It helps to understand more about politics.”
“It hints people that their sons and daughters have the right to vote.”
“It conveys people from other countries who has the same difficulties to exercise the right to vote.”
“It opens our future as adult”
“It helps us to share and to support our opinions.”
/thoughts from the Italien group/
“We
went on Wednesday January 28th by plane from Dublin to Brussels. When
we arrived we met Mairead McGuinness, a member of European Parliament.
She talked to us for a few minutes and we had our photos taken with
her. We had just a few minutes with her because we had to do a
presentation on our country. We needed to tell others about Ireland.
There were six countries at the course, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Denmark,
Italy and Hungary. We heard about their countries too.
We
visited the European Parliament and the European Commission. We had
lunch at the canteen in the Parliament. It was packed with people who
work for the parliament and the commission. We learned about voting
and it was fun. I have already voted in our elections.
We
talked about different countries in the European Union. We learned
about the European anthem, and the flags from the different countries.
Each night we went for dinner with the people from other countries and
the leaders helped us to understand what the people were saying who
didn’t speak English.”
Michael Gannon, Ireland
“Today
Tina, Henriette, Hans Jřrgen and Bettina are going to Brussels. After
that we went to have lunch and then went to the European Parliament.
There we met with a Danish politician, whose name is Ole Christensen.
He was good to talk to.
…Today we met at the European
Parliament. We should also talk about what we thought was good and bad
about the project. We went to have lunch in the Parliament’s canteen.
It’s big. After lunch someone told us about what it’s like to be a part
of a disability council in Europe.”
Bettina Deublein and Hans Jřrgen Andersen, Denmark Breaking news of the MOTE project
On
the 1st April, Paola Vulterini and Grainne Murphy meet with three of
the European political groups and showed them the drafts of the easy
read manifestos that had been prepared by Grainne Murphy and Louisa
Grech. They also addressed the government representatives of all the
27 member states and main European NGOs on the situation of the voting
rights of people with learning disability in each of the participating
countries in the project. Inclusion Europe agreed to disseminate the
brochures produced by MOTE.
Ireland-
Twenty participants from Ireland met in Galway on the 20th April 2009
to complete the first training unit of the educational programme. This
compliments the training in preparation for the 10th World Down
Syndrome Congress (WDSC) to be held in Dublin in August 2009. The WDSC
will host the first ever „Synod of people with Down syndrome” where
persons with Down syndrome will be able to discuss in an open forum the
issues of employment opportunities, their rights as citizens and living
with Down syndrome in their communities. In Hungary
the MOTE awareness campaign started with participation in 2 significant
public events where professionals, users, facilitators and the press
were invited (Civiliáda 2009, Egyenlítő). Brochures were distributed to
all who were interested in the MOTE project and the political
participation of persons with learning disability. Down
Foundation also launched a training programme for local municipalities
preparing officers to work with people learning disablities on civic
and political knowledge.
Italy-
On March 20th , on the occasion of the World Down Syndrome Day, AIPD
celebrated all its international projects. During this event MOTE
brochures were distributed to all participants and a power-point with
the aims, objectives and results of the project was presented by
Giovanni and Carlotta. Catiuscia Marini, the Italian MEP in Brussels,
took part with a speech about the project.
|
