Social Structures

Easy to Read Version

Author: Delia Ferri – Co-Director of the ALL Institute, Department of Law, Maynooth University. EtR Translation Hilary Hooks

Flags flying together at the European Union Building

Ireland is one of a group of countries in Europe called the European Union.

The European Union works to make Europe better.

In 2010 The European Union made a plan to promote the rights of people with disabilities.

This plan is called the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 (EDS).

It was a plan for 10 years. The plan is now coming to an end.

It is time to think about what has changed for the better and what the next plan should include.

Author: Dr Emma McEvoy, Postdoctoral Researcher, SHAPES Project, ALL Institute, Department of Law, Maynooth University.

Dr. Emma McEvoy

Less than a year ago, the sudden and somewhat unpredicted outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic across Europe pushed most national health systems to their limits. Healthcare workers faced the brunt of the pandemic, dealing with shortages of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medical supplies, medicines and coping with Intensive Critical Units (ICU) bed shortages. The European Union (EU) as a whole was not prepared for the Covid-19 outbreak, and neither were any of the Member States. Society and the economy appeared to pause in time to support and allow front-line workers to navigate through the early chaos of the first wave of the pandemic. Many areas of society and the economy have yet to recover and re-start from this initial pause. This is also true of health systems. All EU countries, to some extent, paused or limited normal hospital operations, ranging from postponing routine cancer checks, to cancelling elective surgeries to some hospital day services.

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