Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-03-12-Speech-2-801-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20130312.56.2-801-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, at a recent conference on disability in the European Parliament, a colleague of mind, Valerie Moran, who is manager of the Centre for Independent Living in Longford in Ireland, put it very simply when she said ‘persons with a disability are always more at risk from poverty, and they are always more likely to be in poverty, but under an austerity regime they have no chance’.
That is why we have tabled this question to the Commission this evening because, while the impact on ordinary EU citizens who are living under an austerity regime is very severe, it is much worse for persons who have a disability. That is why the Commission and the Member States must take pro-active steps to ensure that those who have a disability do not become further marginalised. Indeed that is one of the reasons why the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs called for social indicators alongside economic indicators in the European Semester.
Over the past few years in Ireland we have seen cuts to services, to personal assistant hours, and most recently to mobility allowance. This allowance allowed persons who are unable to walk some opportunity to interact socially and even to go to work. Now many people are at risk of being prisoners in their own homes.
My real fear in all of this is that we will undo many years of good work, and dismantle or seriously weaken inclusion policies and structures that we have painstakingly built up. But my biggest fears centre on a number of issues.
Firstly, persons with a disability will be seen as a burden to the state. At a recent meeting in the Committee on Employment, a representative from Belgium spoke of the mindset, now much more prevalent, that sees a person in a wheelchair as a liability. ‘You take up my tax money’, was a comment that was frequently heard. Secondly, we are moving from the social inclusion model to a medical model. Thirdly, carers, and particularly family carers, are overburdened and stressed. Finally, reduced welfare spending, reduced services and higher unemployment among persons with a disability, will lead to ever increasing numbers of persons with a disability living in poverty."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples