Proposed Anti-Discrimination Directive

After much lobbying from the disability sector, including the One Million for Disability campaign, the European Commission proposed an anti-discrimination directive in 2008. It covers disability, age, religion and sexual orientation.

There is already a directive on race, one planned for gender, and an employment directive that covers all of these areas, so this is a directive that aims to ensure that all groups are equally protected.

The directive also aims to ensure that European legislation reflects the wording of the UN Convention on the rights of disabled people, including using the same definition of disability.

Sense lobbies

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) had the opportunity to suggest amendments and vote on the proposal, adopting their report on 2 April 2009.

Sense lobbied on this in coalition with RNIB to try and ensure that the proposal was strengthened.

Now the proposal is with the governments of the EU at the European Council and unfortunately it has not made any progress. However, we will continue to watch this issue. 

For more information on this, please visit the European Commission website on employment, social affairs and inclusion.

Proposal for an Accessibility Act

The European Commission is currently undertaking a public consultation into the possibility of an Accessibility Act and what it should include. We will be submitting a response from Sense and as part of the European Deafblind Network. 

For more information see the European Commission press release.

This is a potentially important issue for deafblind people and so we will be following it closely.