Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-04-03-Speech-2-282"
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"en.20010403.11.2-282"2
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"Mr President, if I had an hour instead of a minute I could maybe touch on some of the key points, however, in the European Parliament we have to work within these limits. At the outset I want to congratulate and thank Madam Hermange for her advocacy on behalf of people with disabilities and in particular for her willingness to take on board new ideas with regard to creating a barrier-free Europe.
Any charter of rights, any constitution will tell you, that all people are borne equal, yet every single day disabled people in the European Union are treated as unequal. In fact, in many scenarios they are treated as inferior beings to the rest of society. I can bring hundreds of examples of discrimination, of ignorance, thousands of examples of prejudice. When we speak about a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities, our main focus is always on legislation, on new innovation with regard to buildings or access to transport. These are all key and important elements, but the first thing that we have to overcome, the first barrier that has to be jumped is a psychological barrier and the prejudices within each and every one of us. When we see someone with a disability, instead of focusing on the disability, let us treat everyone as equal, focus on their ability and give them the tools of information, of training, of education and of opportunity to really show how much ability they actually have.
I commend this report to the House and would ask that it should not just be an expression of good intentions or the conscience of the Members of this House or of the Commission, but lead to real action before 2003, so that then when we celebrate the European Year for the Disabled Citizen, we can actually say that we have made progress and moved beyond some of the barriers."@en1
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