The impact of EU disability issues on Malta

Abstract

'A Europe without frontiers', a more politically and economically integrated Europe. The 'new Europe' will have amongst other things, a single currency and a single citizenship, and that should mean zero exclusion, hence equal opportunities. In recent years disabled people have begun to realise that the term disability represents a complex system of social restrictions. Equal opportunity can be denied for many reasons: buildings, vehicles, healthcare, education, leisure time and employment structures are often not designed to take account of people's differences. Equal opportunity can also be denied for other reasons, such as, place of birth, financial circumstances, manner of speech, skin colour, physical appearance and type of disability. Societies function around the notion of a mythical normality, which notion is neither conducive to the development and implementation of a holistic approach to policy, nor to the empowerment and fulfilment of disabled people. Further, the economic advantages of integrating an active disabled population are not yet recognised enough. More than 37 million European citizens, that is one tenth of all citizens have some form of disability or other. In a report to the European Parliament from 1996, people with disabilities were described as Europe's "invisible citizens". The well-attested experience of Europeans with disability is one of underachievement in education, persistently low levels of employment, inadequate access to transport, as well as daily occurrences of small but cumulatively significant acts of discrimination. The result for many is endemic social and economic exclusion, poverty and heavy dependence on welfare.