Category: Social Structures

Commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Social Structures

Author Ana Maria Sanchez Rodriguez – ALL Institute member, Irish Research Council and a Marie Skłodowska- Curie Actions’ fellow at Maynooth University

The author is grateful for the insights provided by Marité Fernández.

On the 3rd of December we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations proclaimed this day in 1992 and this year the theme is: “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”.

While this is a day to observe and to commemorate, there is not much to celebrate. In the past few days, the international community, United Nation agencies, intergovernmental organizations and international organizations have organized virtual conferences to address what the main challenges are in order to realize the rights of persons with disabilities recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights Persons of Disabilities and other regional human rights treaties.

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European Union Disability Policies after 2020: Back to the Future

Social Structures

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Author: Delia Ferri – Co-Director of the ALL Institute, Department of Law, Maynooth University

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At the end of this year, the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 (EDS), which has shaped European Union (EU) disability policies for the last decade, is coming to an end. The 3rd of December 2020, which marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, seems the most apt time to reflect on what EU policies have achieved, but also to look ahead to the forthcoming Strategy 2021-2030.

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European Union Disability Policies after 2020: Back to the Future – Easy to Read Version

Social Structures

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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.

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

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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.

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

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Building a European Health Union

Social Structures

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

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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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