International Youth Day 2023 - Voices of Young Women With Disabilities
What would you like the EU Commission and the Parliament to do for young persons with disabilities in the next mandate?
The perspective of young women is central to the reply to this question. Tamara Byrne and Nina Portolan from the European Disability Forum’s Youth Committee have elaborated on this:
Tamara:
Fully Inclusive higher Education.
I would like to see a system in place that allows young people with disabilities to access a fully inclusive higher education model.A fully inclusive model is where a person goes to college and takes part in courses of their own choices as well as the different experiences college has to offer on their own terms. To have a support model so they can be included in classes with all other college students, not a class with a group of students with disabilities.
Young people with intellectual disabilities have the rights to an education and should be able to decide which college and courses they would like to attend without having barriers.
I would like to see a support model in place for students to access Education.
Nina:
The EU Commission and Parliament need to make sure young disabled people have the same opportunities to experience life that their non disabled peers do, and this includes many areas of life but it is universally rooted all young disabled people having access to reasonable accommodations and Personal Assistance, regardless of type of impairment, whether they are involved in education or any other factors, across member states. For improving the quality of life of disabled youth it is also important not to overlook their participation in political, cultural, artistic and other aspects of life in the community, next to establishing support in education and entering the workforce.
Read more about EDF’s Youth Committee and its work here, and discover EDF’s blog here.
