Thursday 5th of May marks the European Day for Independent Living, declared in 2014 by the European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) to celebrate, protest or manifest any situation on behalf of this reason.
In rural areas, people with disabilities face a double challenge. In these cases, schooling, employability, Internet access or assistance from qualified health professionals are very scarce. In the same way, people with disabilities are often seen as objects of charity, social protection and medical assistance, not as subjects with the capacity to exercise their rights and be able to make decisions based on their own approval to be active individuals within society.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance and need for the social inclusion of people with disabilities. In this sense, the Independent Living Project (‘Rural in Life’), co-financed by Erasmus+ of the European Union, helps to train professionals (social workers, educators, professionals in attention to people with disabilities), aimed at promoting the social inclusion and autonomy of these people in rural areas. COCEMFE Seville participates in ‘Rural in Life’ along with other countries.
This project focuses on determining the informative and methodological needs of the experts in the rural municipalities included in it. Also implementing training courses aimed at guiding and organizing the independence process of a person with a disability are goals. Likewise, it aims to carry out mentoring processes for people with disabilities in their life processes by professionals in training.
This year, ENIL has decided to dedicate the European Day for Independent Living to youth, since 2022 has been named as the European year of young people by its importance to build a more inclusive future, among other things.
