Europe in Action 2012

New Work Opportunities for People with Intellectual Disabilities

31 May – 2 June 2012, Thon Hotel, Brussels, Belgium

As new highlight in the successful series of annual Europe in Action conferences, Inclusion Europe organizes in 2012 together with its Belgian partner ANAHM an event on the subject of work opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. The event will provide self-advocates, family members, professionals, and their organisations from all over Europe and beyond with a platform to exchange current policies and practices at European level with a wide range of stakeholders. Simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Dutch will give all participants the opportunity to engage and exchange across borders and language barriers.

New work and employment opportunities for European citizens with intellectual disabilities are crucial for their full inclusion in society. On the basis of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, inclusive employment opportunities and policies have been further developed and provide service providers, policy-makers and other stakeholders with outstanding examples of good practice.

The conference will thus focus on four main thematic strands that will allow the more than 300 expected participants from all over Europe to discuss and engage with newest ideas in the employment field:

• Welfare and employment: the road to inclusive policies
  Under this thematic strand, participants will analyse the impact of the financial cuts in welfare and employment policies on people with intellectual disabilities and their families. New systems of commissioning and contracting employment services will be discussed as well as the impact of the implementation of the EU Non-discrimination Directive on the employment of people with intellectual disabilities.
• Designing and implementing inclusive employment services
  How to be good employers of people with intellectual disabilities will be the focus of this thematic strand. Participants will discuss the transformation processes from sheltered work to inclusive employment as well as the quality systems that need to be in place. Furthermore, the possibilities of social enterprises and other new forms of work provision will be discussed.
• ‘Fit for our work’: Training and support needs of people with intellectual disabilities
  How can inclusive education at school lead to inclusive employment? What type of vocational training and which support services are necessary to make this a reality? And how can people with intellectual disabilities themselves lead this process? These are but some of the questions that will be discussed under active participation of self-advocates from all over Europe.
• Examples of good practice of work for people with intellectual disabilities
  Finally, the conference will be an opportunity to share good practices from the field of work and employment. Outstanding services, policies and practices from all over Europe will present themselves.

More information about this outstanding event can be found at www.EuropeInAction.org. Persons who are interested in making a presentation at the conference should contact Inclusion Europe’s Conference Organiser at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with a concrete proposal for a presentation.