Since December 2015, the European Commission has opened a public consultation to gather views from citizens, organisations, public authorities, businesses, academics and other stakeholders on the mid-term review of the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020). The EU strategy provides a roadmap for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the European Union has become a party since January 2011. AGE invites older people’s organisations to take part in this consultation to voice the interest of older persons with impairments.
The EU is supposed to take into account the specific situation of older people with functional limitations, such as frailty and dementia in the implementation of its disability strategy. Older people in need of care and assistance are considered as persons with disabilities for the purposes of the UN Convention.
AGE will prepare a collective response to the consultation based on input received by its members but older people’s organisations are also encouraged to reply to this consultation directly to bring forward the specific challenges faced by older people who acquire impairments and other types of limitations in their everyday life as they get older. The more answers the Commission receives the more likely they are to take into account older persons in the revision of this key policy instrument.
This public consultation – addressed both to individuals and organisations – is open until 18 March 2016 and asks for:
- your opinion on what has been achieved so far in each of these areas,
- your views on the challenges faced by all persons with disabilities,
- how the EU should address these challenges.
