The social protection and social inclusion of disabled people in European countries

The rapporteurs' synthesis draws on evidence from national reports pepared by ANED's country teams, which are published on the country web pages.

The recommendations highlight the need to encourage EU Member States to routinely and effectively report on the situation of disabled people in relation to policies for social protection and social inclusion. National actions have been taken to improve the integration of disabled people. However, more effort should be made to implement such laws, across the full range of policy areas. Some countries have introduced governmental programmes that involve disabled people's organisations as active participants in policy development and strategy. There are numerous examples of positive policies and innovative practice in European countries but these need to be more effectively shared through the OMC process.

The study showed that, although the disability benefit system provides the basic levels of income for survival, disabled people are still among the poorest in society. Action is needed to highlight and target the poverty of disabled people within the context of social protection and social inclusion debates. A focus on inclusive education and lifelong learning is also a priority. There is a need for clearer evidence about movement from institutional care to community living, and to promote the transfer of resources from the former to the latter. Of particular interest here are schemes for providing user-controlled personal assistance through direct payments and personal budgets.

A clearer focus is needed on strategy and intervention to target those groups most at risk of social exclusion to avoid the tendency for inclusion of only those closest to the labour market or social inclusion in other fields. Of particular concern here are strategies targeting the poverty, educational risk, employment and independent living of people with mental health conditions, people with complex support needs, people with intellectual disabilities, and young disabled people.

The report highlighted significant difficulty in accessing basic information and reliable data regarding the social situation of disable people. Little evaluation research has been carried out in many of the key focus areas of concern (particularly support for independent living).