A large majority adopted the report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs last night.

A large majority adopted the report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs last night.

Helga Stevens, first female Deaf Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of the file, is pleased with the outcome: “The Parliament has shown today that the rights of persons with disabilities do not have a political agenda. Rarely before have so many political groups been able to agree on an issue so broad.”

The report will be instrumental in ensuring the European Parliament and other EU institutions are a positive example as a workplace and in ensuring disabled people can fully access public events and meetings, as well as information (online and offline).

Stevens cooperated with disability organisations at all stages of the drafting of the report. Furthermore, an unprecedented number of Committees were involved in the making of the report, ranging from the Committee on Transport and Tourism to the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Development. Stevens remarked: “Involvement of all actors is crucial because disabled people need access in all areas of life. Imagine a person that has an adapted workplace but has no means to arrive there because the bus or the train is inaccessible.”