The Open Society Mental Health Initiative

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Inclusion Europe

 

 

About Inclusion Europe

Inclusion Europe is a non-profit organization that campaigns for the rights and interests of people with intellectual disabilities and their families throughout Europe. Respect, Solidarity and Inclusion are the fundamental values shared by all members of the movement of and for people with intellectual disabilities and their families.   The main office is in Brussels, Belgium.

 

Constitution and Bylaws

 

Inclusion Europe pursues three primary objectives:

 

Please visit the following links for more information about Inclusion Europe and its members:

 

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Inclusion Europe's Activities

Inclusion Europe plays an important role in influencing and shaping European policy according to the needs of people with intellectual disabilities, their families, and their organizations. It responds to European policy proposals and provides information about the needs of people with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Europe also advises the European Commission and members of the European Parliament on disability issues. Its main policy areas are:

 

 

For Easy to Read information about Inclusion Europe's policy areas, please click here.

 

Inclusion Europe implements projects together with member organizations. Projects address policy areas such as human rights, social inclusion, and capacity building and help bring Europe closer to people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

 

For Easy to Read information on Inclusion Europe's projects, please click here.

 

Sharing information is one of the most important activities of Inclusion Europe. It regularly publishes the online journal e-Include as well as Europe for Us! , the newsletter of the European self advocacy movement. Thematic publications on a variety of subjects are available to member organizations and other interested persons. Inclusion Europe has also developed guidelines on writing Easy to Read texts and publications.

 

To download publications from Inclusion Europe, please click here.

To download Easy to Read publications, please click here.

 

Inclusion Europe also coordinates activities across Europe including conferences, working groups, and exchange meetings. For more information on Inclusion Europe events, please click here.

 

For event information in Easy to Read, please click here.

 

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Highlights

1) Dumping Grounds For Forgotten People

An investigation by Bulgarian journalist Yana Buhrer Tavanier on the mental care institutions in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.   

Please visit the website dedicated to the investigation and view the new promotional video.


Judith Klein, director of the OSMHI (Open Society Mental Health Initiative) has written a foreword to the article, which appears in the newsletter of the European Coalition for Community Living, Issue No. 10, October 2009 and also on the investigation website.


2) Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care

A report on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care was handed over to Commissioner Vladimír ?pidla on September 23, 2009. The report was drafted by a group of independent experts convened by Commissioner Spidla in February 2009 to address the issues of institutional care reform in their complexity.  The report is also available in Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian.

Films

Karin Dom - a training and resource centre for children with special needs and their families

This short film was made following a BBC production about a children's institution in Mogilino, Bulgaria. The film features MHI partner organization Karin Dom and highlights what community-based alternatives for children can be like in Bulgaria.

UN Disability Convention

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities received its 20th ratification on April 3, 2008, triggering the entry into force of the Convention and its Optional Protocol on May 3, 2008. This marks a major milestone in the effort to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Information on the convention process:
Convention in Easy to Read
View the list of signatories
Countries that have ratified the Convention
ICRPD Ratification Toolkit
Convention and Inclusive Education
View more information

 

News reports on the Convention:
Agreement on New UN Convention
Urging Implementation
Archive Webcast: Convention Signing 
Record Number of Countries Sign
Secretary-General Ban Hails Entry Into Force Of Treaty On Disability Rights
More news reports

Publications:
UN Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol
First Implementation Manual For The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (Addressed Specifically To Users And Survivors Of Psychiatry)


Ratify Now (The campaign to support global grassroots efforts to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

Films about Inclusion

Foster Care for Children with Disabilities: English ** Russian

I Want to Work and I Can Work!

Living Proof: The right to live in the community

Reality - film on personal assistance

Being an Unperson. A short film about the experience of dehumanization within the care system.

In My Language. A short film about autism and nonverbal communication.

A Way of Describing Autism. A short film by Dave Spicer and Amanda Baggs.

Equalise It!

A Manifesto for Disability Equality in Development Cooperation

The international committee of UK Disabled People's Council (formerly BCODP) has written this manifesto in the light of the signing of the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

To read the campaign launch letter, please click here.

Organisations who wish to sign up to the Manifesto are asked to contact Bill Albert or Mark Harrison so that their name and logo can be added to the list of signatories.