52002IE0853

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Integration of disabled people in society"

(2002/C 241/17)

On 15 January 2002, the Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 23(3) of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an Opinion on "The Integration of disabled people in society".

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 20 June 2002. The rapporteur was Mr Cabra de Luna.

At its 392nd Plenary Session of 17 and 18 July 2002 (meeting of 17 July), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion with 124 votes in favour, no dissenting votes and two abstentions.

1. Introduction

1.1. There is a general agreement that disabled people constitute about 10 % of the general population. This means that there are 37 million disabled people in the European Union and that there will be about 50 million disabled people in the EU once the accession countries have joined. If we add to this figure the families of disabled people, it becomes obvious that we are speaking of a very large group of EU citizens.

1.2. On 3 December 2001, the Council of the European Union approved the decision to declare 2003 the European Year of People with Disabilities. The objectives stated in the Council decision included raising awareness of the rights of disabled people and exploring initiatives on how to promote them. Other objectives included building partnerships among the different stakeholders and paying special attention to the role of the education system.

1.3. The conference on disability held in Madrid in March 2002 adopted the so-called Madrid Declaration, which establishes a conceptual framework for the European Year and includes a plan of how to achieve the main objectives, as well as concrete suggestions for actions for all relevant stakeholders. To achieve social inclusion of disabled people, a synthesis approach is proposed, based on a combination of anti-discrimination policies and positive action measures.

1.4. Such an approach is in line with the references to disabled people in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which in its Article 21 prohibits discrimination based on grounds of disability, among others, and in its Article 26 provides explicit recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities and the need to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community.

1.5. If adequate support is provided, disabled people can contribute to society as all other citizens. It is therefore a worthwhile investment for society to invest more in active labour-market policies, in particular by providing support to employers that employ or intend to employ disabled people. This will produce savings in passive policies(1) and therefore produce a more sustainable social protection system.

1.6. Disabled people have the same human rights as all other citizens, but in practice, our societies are organised in a way that often makes it impossible for them to enjoy the full range of human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. That is why disability is a human rights issue and this should be the basis of all disability policies. Disabled people deserve equal opportunities. Like all other citizens, disabled people want the right to independent living, the right to make their own choices.

1.7. Disabled people are faced with many types of barriers which hinder their full participation in society. These barriers might be environmental, attitudinal, social, legal, communicational or financial. The barriers disabled people face vary significantly from one group of disabled people to the other. For deaf people who use sign language as their first language, the lack of recognition of sign language as an official language creates serious communicational barriers.

1.8. Many of these barriers exist because disabled people are largely forgotten when a new service is designed. That is why disabled people are often referred to as the invisible citizens. Obviously for mainstreaming of disability to become a reality, disabled people need to be visible, so that decision-makers in all spheres of society consider them when setting up new services. The Council Resolution on equal opportunities of disabled people from 1996 established the need to mainstream disability in all relevant areas of EU policy. Disability mainstreaming can be defined as: the systematic integration of the priorities and needs of disabled people in all policies and general measures with a view to promoting equal opportunities for disabled people by actively and openly taking into account, at the planning stage, their effects on disabled people during their implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This is mostly an objective to be achieved and not yet a reality.

1.9. The European Commission recently published the Eurobarometer Survey (April 2001)(2) which identifies that six Europeans in ten know someone with a disability and 97 % of respondents think that more should be done to ensure better integration of disabled people into society.

1.10. Some examples of the barriers that disabled people usually face include: inaccessible buildings and public areas, inaccessible transport systems, schools that are not prepared to accept disabled children because of lack of support structures, inaccessible information, inaccessible public services, and inaccessible public and private websites.

1.11. Disabled people have not only rights but also duties and obligations. The barriers in society also largely prevent disabled people from complying with their duties and obligations. This has an economic cost for society which is seldom considered. Promoting the participation of disabled people in society will also prove positive from an economic point of view as various studies on the costs of exclusion and discrimination have shown.

1.12. Article 13 of the EC Treaty allows the EU to promote initiatives to combat discrimination faced, among others, by disabled people. Based on this Article 13, in November 2000 the Council approved a directive on equal treatment in the workplace, which covers disability among other grounds for discrimination. This article has been the basis of the Council decision to declare 2003 the European Year of People with Disabilities. In July 2000, the Council of the European Union approved an EU directive on equal treatment irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. The scope of this directive, which is based on Article 13, includes education, social advantages and access to goods and services.

1.13. Several countries in the world have comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation which has proved very successful in combating the different barriers, including attitudinal barriers, that disabled people encounter in society. The first and best known of these legal frameworks is the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). Since 1995, a similar comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation has existed in the United Kingdom and other less comprehensive legislations have been adopted in Ireland, Sweden and very recently in Germany. In other countries, such as the Netherlands and Spain, steps are being taken to promote non-discrimination legislation.

1.14. The European Commission communication Towards a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities(3) presents commitments to developing and supporting a comprehensive and integrated strategy to tackle social, architectural and design barriers which restrict access for disabled people to social and economic opportunities. The European Parliament Resolution(4) on this European Commission communication pressed for a strengthening of its commitments towards disabled people in relation to areas such as freedom of movement legislation, education, access to the built environment and goods and services. The European Year of People with Disabilities will provide an important means to launch commitments made by the European Commission in this communication.

1.15. The figures included in a recent Eurostat publication(5), show that disabled people are faced with very low levels of employment and education. So, while 62 % of non-disabled people of working age were in employment, only 24 % of severely disabled people were in employment. 18 % of non-disabled people had reached the third level of education and only 9 % of disabled people had reached the same educational level.

1.16. The social partners (ETUC, CEEP and UNICE/UEAPME) adopted in May 1999 in Cologne the Declaration of the European social partners on the employment of people with disabilities. Among others, this Declaration states that "The ETUC, CEEP and UNICE/UEAPME believe that an equal opportunities' approach is the right path to follow in order to improve the employment opportunities of people with disabilities in the open labour market". Discrimination based on factors which are irrelevant to the task in question is socially unacceptable and economically inappropriate. Moreover, the Declaration states "Through actively promoting the employment of people with disabilities, companies can develop previously unexploited resources and increase their potential for innovation". The Declaration ended with a call from the social partners to public authorities, inviting them to "take account of the needs of disabled people in an integrated way in order to create a culture of inclusion rather than separation".

1.17. The lack of adequate support in the form of services and public funding for disabled people has as a consequence that the responsibility often relies on the family of the disabled person. This is particularly the case for people with complex dependency needs where the lack of support often results either in confinement in institutions or in very difficult family situations, with at least one of the family members leaving the labour market to devote him/herself to the care of the disabled family member. It is a matter of adequate resources, services and also of allowing the families to reconcile their family life with their work(6). If the extra costs linked to disability are not covered by the public authorities, these are covered by disabled people and their families and this mostly leads to poverty.

1.18. The image of disabled people in society is not always adequate. Low expectations towards disabled people but also stigmatisation of some groups of disabled people such as people with mental health problems, are the result. In the strategy to improve this image the mass media play an important role. Disabled people also need to be more present in all spheres of society: as politicians at local, national and European level, as employers and managers, in leading positions in trade unions and in the third sector.

1.19. These different factors often lead to social exclusion and poverty. This is why disabled people were defined in the EU strategy against social exclusion and poverty as one of the groups at risk of social exclusion and poverty. A recent report(7) produced under the auspices of the European Disability Forum and carried out by the University of Athens in cooperation with several European disability organisations analyses the different factors that lead to the exclusion of disabled people. The main factors highlighted in this study are: the lack or limited access to the social environment and to services, the lack of employment, the lack of adequate education, the stigmatisation faced by disabled people and the insufficient compensation of the extra costs linked to disability. The report also shows how discrimination of disabled people leads to social exclusion and poverty.

1.20. Disabled people form a very diverse group and disability policy needs to take this diversity into account. Particular attention needs to be devoted to people with complex dependency needs unable to represent themselves, who require adequate services designed in cooperation and consultation with their parents or carers.

1.21. Following a proposal made by the Mexican Government, the Third Committee of the United Nations decided at its meeting in November 2001 to set up an ad hoc Committee to study the feasibility of promoting a UN Convention on the rights of disabled people. A first meeting of the ad hoc Committee will take place before the autumn of 2002.

1.22. The European Economic and Social Committee in its opinion on the European Year of People with Disabilities adopted on 17 October 2001, requested, among other things, the European Commission to present a proposal for an EU directive promoting equal treatment and combating discrimination on the grounds of disability in line with the EU directive on equal treatment for people of ethnic origin. The opinion also proposed the adoption of a disability specific action programme which would finance an open method of coordination of disability policies. It included the proposal to produce an own-initiative opinion in 2002 as a contribution to the planning of the European Year in 2003.

2. General considerations

2.1. The European Year of People with Disabilities in 2003 provides a unique opportunity to advance the disability agenda in the European Union. The Year should be seen as the start of a process that will continue well beyond the Year.

2.2. Public authorities at all levels, from EU institutions to local authorities, should lead by example in this process.

2.3. The success of the Year is based on an active involvement of all stakeholders at all levels which should establish long-lasting partnerships.

2.4. Disability policy is mainly a matter of national competence. Increasingly different EU initiatives are influencing national policies either through directives or through the use of the open method of coordination relating specifically to disabled people. Future disability policy needs, therefore, to ensure proper complementarity of EU and national policies, complemented obviously by the increasing competence of regional and local authorities.

2.5. Actions to improve conditions for disabled people will lead to a better society. If services are designed to be accessible to disabled people, they will be accessible to all citizens and in particular to older people.

2.6. A vast majority of disabled people are members of and form part of disability associations that have been set up to protect their rights. These associations can be found at all levels, local, regional, national and international. All actions to be undertaken during the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 should include disability organisations as one of the partners. The time has passed when initiatives were undertaken on behalf of disabled people without their active participation.

2.7. Measures to improve the inclusion of disabled people in our societies are diverse and need to combine legal initiatives and general awareness campaigns.

3. Objectives to be promoted in the European Year

3.1. The European Year of People with Disabilities should start the process for the progressive elimination of the barriers that disabled people encounter in all spheres of life, in particular in education and access to goods and services. It should also provide the support which disabled people and their families need to benefit from real equal opportunities.

3.2. Some of these barriers (environmental, communicational) can be overcome through legal initiatives, others (attitudinal) require awareness-raising campaigns. All require commitment and cooperation by all relevant stakeholders. There are already many good examples of how barriers can be overcome, which have proved that such a step is possible and positive for all stakeholders.

3.3. The vast majority of disabled people in working age are able and willing to work. Increasing their capacity to enter the labour market will result in higher employment levels of disabled people, which is a key to ensure their social participation. The recent EU directive on equal treatment in the workplace is a useful contribution to the improvement of the employment levels of disabled people. It needs however to be complemented with adequate positive action, in particular by providing adequate support to employers who employ disabled people, including Small and Medium Enterprises, for which these incentives might be specially attractive. Financial incentives for disabled people to become self-employed should also be provided. It needs to be ensured that passive policies do not act as a disincentive for the integration in the labour market of disabled people. For this to happen, the benefits covering the extra costs linked to the disability need to be maintained also when the disabled person enters the labour market and the disabled person must have the guarantee of recovering the full range of his/her previous benefits, in the event that he/she is unable to stay in the labour market.

3.4. In 2002, the EU Labour Force Survey will include an ad hoc module on disability which will for the first time provide comparable statistics on the employment levels of disabled people.

3.5. The role of the social partners is vital. There are many examples of good practice among employers both in employing disabled people and in designing their goods and services in an accessible way. However, more could be done to make these examples known among other employers. The example of the UK Forum of Employers on Disability(8) is an interesting model, which has so far not been taken up in other Member States. Employers should see this as part of the overall corporate community involvement in line with the Green Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Social cooperation can play an important role in combating the social exclusion of differently abled people. Through the creation of cooperatives or other bodies that promote insertion into working life the disabled person acquires dignity and independence, and is able to integrate fully into the social fabric.

3.6. The role of trade unions too is vital in this respect, in particular to ensure that disabled people who are in employment also benefit from equal opportunities in respect of their internal promotion. Trade unions also play a vital role in the dissemination of the EU directive on equal treatment in the workplace. Finally, the role of welfare associations and foundations which offer social services and employment opportunities to disabled people play a crucial role.

3.7. An important dimension of employment policies for disabled people is that of job retention, as highlighted in a recent OECD/ILO study(9) and in the latest initiatives of the European Agency on Health and Safety. Most disabled people acquire their disability in working age; however, insufficient efforts are made to keep them in the labour market. There are various interesting models on job retention in a number of countries, such as Sweden and the UK(10). A key element of a successful job retention policy is to maintain the link between the disabled person and his/her employer. Obviously, the way the social security system operates has a major influence on this issue. The full access of disabled people to life-long learning needs to be ensured and recent initiatives such as the European Commission Communication(11) on life-long learning need to take disabled people into account in all its aspects.

3.8. For disabled people, as for all other citizens, education is a key element for employment and social participation in general. The general rule for the education of disabled children should be that of inclusive education. This is not only good for disabled children but also for non-disabled children to develop understanding of the right of disabled people to take their equal place in a diverse society. For inclusive education to be a success, disabled children and youngsters must benefit from the adequate support their specific impairment requires.

3.9. Special education can only be considered the preferred option for disabled children when such a decision is reached in agreement with the parents of the disabled child. Special schools must guarantee the provision of an equivalent quality education with mainstream schools. Special schools must be evaluated regularly.

3.10. In particular, the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 should mean progress for those disabled people most at risk of exclusion and those who face double and multiple discrimination: women with disabilities and disabled people from ethnic minorities. Particular attention should be given to people with complex dependency needs and their families and carers, to establish support structures that ensure their access to the full range of human rights.

3.11. Some progress has been made recently in the areas of social policy, transport and information society, where most of the latest initiatives take into account disabled people. This is not the situation in many other areas, which proves that mainstreaming needs to be strengthened.

3.12. Special efforts need to be made to mainstream disability into all relevant EU policy areas. Such efforts must happen during the European Year in 2003 but must also continue over the years to come. Although disabled people are not formally excluded from any of these areas, their lack of visibility leads to their exclusion in practice. Therefore, specific references to disabled people in all relevant initiatives are needed and, when appropriate, changes need to be made in order for disabled people to be able to fully benefit from and contribute to these initiatives.

3.13. Such EU initiatives where specific references to disabled people are needed include EU consumer policies, EU initiatives on human rights, EU action programme on youth, EU programmes and initiatives in the field of education (Socrates, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci), EU programmes on culture and media, and EU activities in the field of sports, in particular those related to the planned European Year on Education through Sports in 2004.

3.14. Disabled people and parents and representatives of disabled people must be involved in the work of the different EU processes which apply the open method of coordination such as in the field of education, youth and pensions. This can only be achieved if the EU institutions and the Member States commit and actively ensure that disability issues are included and that representative disability organisations are involved in this work. When statistical indicators are defined to support this process, these must provide information on the situation of disabled people.

3.15. Disability policy remains, by and large, a matter of national competence. Although disability is included in the European Employment Strategy and the EU strategy against social exclusion and poverty, the focus on disabled people varies significantly from one Member State to the other and is, therefore, not providing a comprehensive and comparable situation among different Member States. This is a missed opportunity as Member States cannot sufficiently benefit from the possibility of exchanging their policies and examples of good practice. There is a general lack of indicators and data on the situation of disabled people, which makes it almost impossible to compare the effectiveness of the different national policies.

3.16. The European Year of People with Disabilities should mean an advancement in the exchange between EU Member States and accession countries on national disability policies.

3.17. Disabled people should have access to the same services as all other citizens. This means that their needs must be considered in the early stages of the planning process. This includes planning decisions relating to public areas such as: restaurants, cinemas, theatres, schools, universities, shopping centres, museums, parks or stadia. Not ensuring access of disabled people to these services is an infringement of basic human rights, but also, from an economic point of view, it means that employers are losing an important part of their potential consumers. Consumer organisations have a vital contribution to make in support of this work so it may become a reality. A good example is provided by a recent survey undertaken by a Spanish consumer organisation, which shows that 50 % of such facilities were not accessible to disabled people.

3.18. Like all other citizens, disabled people have to be active members of society and should be able to be active in a variety of organisations, including political parties, professional organisations, religious organisations, sports clubs, environmental groups and other associations. All these organisations need to be organised in a way that allows disabled people to take part in them.

3.19. The portrayal of disabled people by the mass media needs to be improved. Information and programmes need to be based on an approach that acknowledges the rights of disabled people and that highlights the barriers disabled people face to full participation in society.

3.20. The European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 should not be limited to disabled people living in the European Union, but also benefit disabled people in accession countries, where the situation of disabled people is often even more negative than within the EU. Moreover, disabled people in developing countries should also benefit from the results of the European Year through their increased visibility in EU development cooperation policies.

3.21. The right of disabled people through their representative organisations to be part of the decision-making process should be strengthened in the European Year within the overall initiative to promote a structured civil dialogue at EU level. This is also of direct benefit for decision-makers, who are not always aware of how to design policies in order that they also adequately cover disabled people. The process used to draw up the present opinion could be given as an example of good practice, as a public hearing was organised with representatives from the disability movement to seek their views. This helped to provide a better understanding of the situation and key demands of the disability movement, as well as serving to highlight the diversity of the disability movement.

4. Concrete proposals

4.1. In view of the objectives defined in the previous section, the European Economic and Social Committee considers that the following proposals would make a useful contribution to achieving these objectives.

4.2. A disability specific action programme should be established at EU level which would have as its main goals the following:

a) to support the mainstreaming of disability in all relevant EU policy areas, inter alia by strengthening current consultation and monitoring mechanisms and by promoting disability awareness among key decision-makers, focusing on possibilities for disabled people;

b) to support the establishment of an open method of coordination in the field of disability, based on common outcome indicators that would make it possible to monitor the progress in time of the levels of social inclusion of disabled people. This method would include all relevant areas of disability policy, such as education, vocational training, life-long learning, employment, transport, information society, benefit systems and services for people with complex dependency needs and their families. Examples of good practice in each of these areas must be provided to allow mutual learning. The open method of coordination of disability policies would be useful for all Member States and in particular also for the countries joining the European Union in the near future;

c) to ensure and strengthen the participation of representative disability organisations in the civil dialogue at EU level, including the provision of adequate funding and adequate consultation mechanisms;

d) to involve welfare associations and foundations which offer social services for disabled people.

4.3. To contribute to the elimination of current barriers and prevention of new barriers and as a major contribution of the European Year to the advancement of the disability agenda, an EU directive based on Article 13 should be approved to make it unlawful to discriminate against disabled people in all spheres of life, including education and access to goods and services which are available to the public, including housing. This should establish reasonable deadlines for the current inaccessible infrastructure to be made gradually more accessible and also make provision for adequate enforcement mechanisms, including an independent monitoring body in each Member State in charge of monitoring the implementation of this directive at national level.

4.4. With a view to increasing the employment levels of disabled people, the Economic and Social Committee would like to make the following suggestions:

a) EU Member States should ensure the swift and adequate implementation of the EU directive on equal treatment in the workplace;

b) the European Commission should propose, and the Member States should agree, to strengthen current guideline 7 in the Employment Guidelines that refers to disabled people by urging Member States to establish concrete targets for the employment of disabled people and to refer to the incentives for employers that employ disabled people; such incentive schemes should be better known among employers and disabled people and should be easy and quick to obtain;

c) the social partners at EU level should consider making use of the EU social dialogue mechanisms structure to propose new initiatives for the employment of disabled people, including job retention;

d) in line with the recent European Parliament decision at first reading, the EU directives on public procurement should be modified, allowing public authorities to include the employment of disabled people as an award criterion and to request, when relevant, that products and services need to be designed and produced so that they are accessible for disabled people;

e) national and EU networks of employers and trade unions involved in the employment of disabled people could be established;

f) to monitor the outcome of these different measures, the EU Labour Force Survey should permanently include information on the situation of disabled people in the labour market.

4.5. The new open method of coordination in the field of education should include disabled children and young people as one of the main target groups and all actions and indicators should consider them. The European Day of Disabled People in 2002 will be devoted to raising awareness and to prepare the active participation of the entire school system in the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003.

4.6. New technologies, both mainstream and assistive, if developed appropriately, can play a vital role in overcoming some of the barriers disabled people face. Therefore the forthcoming EU Sixth Framework Programme on Research and Development, the telecommunications package of directives on service provision and the new eEurope 2005 action plan should request that disability be considered as a horizontal issue, as well as supporting initiatives addressed specifically at disabled people. Also, more efforts need to be made to eliminate all the legal and other barriers that currently prevent the establishment of a real European market of assistive technologies, as well as to provide at national level the adequate financial support for disabled people requiring the use of these technologies.

4.7. In order to ensure the full visibility of disabled people in the EU strategy against social exclusion and poverty, a breakdown by disability should be provided in the different indicators that will be the basis for measuring the effectiveness of national policies in this field. The representative disability organisations should be involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of the National Action Plans against social exclusion and poverty.

4.8. The Committee undertakes to press for international and national action to promote and support forms of entrepreneurial activity which seek to integrate disabled people into the social fabric. In particular, the Committee undertakes to boost and provide encouragement for cooperative ventures and other social organisations.

4.9. In order to support the human rights of disabled people also at world-wide level, the European Economic and Social Committee supports the need to ensure that disabled people are adequately considered in the EU and national development cooperation policies.

4.10. The European Economic and Social Committee commits itself to endorse the Madrid Declaration and to contribute to the objectives referred to in that Declaration and to its widespread dissemination.

4.11. The European Economic and Social Committee calls on all stakeholders, public and private, local, national and EU, to approach the actions in the European Year in view of the recently proclaimed Madrid Declaration, which defines the conceptual framework for the Year and suggests concrete actions for the different stakeholders. In particular, mass media, consumer organisations, youth organisations, sport clubs, religious organisations, associations and other stakeholders should use the European Year to improve their services and work to ensure that disabled people can fully benefit from them as well as contribute to them.

4.12. The European Economic and Social Committee commits itself hereby to mainstream disability throughout its work, and to consider the interests, rights and duties of disabled people in all its opinions, including, where relevant, specific references to disabled people in those opinions. A document should be prepared to remind rapporteurs of this issue, giving them some guidance on how to take disability and disabled people into account, with a particular recommendation to consult with representative disability organisations. There should be regular evaluation on how disability is taken into account in the different opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee.

4.13. The European Economic and Social Committee will be actively involved in the evaluation of the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 in order to continue to make proposals that promote the social inclusion of disabled people, as well as undertaking a periodic evaluation of progress in EU disability policies.

4.14. The European Economic and Social Committee welcomes the proposal made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability and approved by the UN Commission for Social Development to strengthen the content of the UN Standard Rules and to maintain the current monitoring structure. Moreover the European Economic and Social Committee supports the initiative approved by the United Nations to launch a process to establish a UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People which would ensure that disabled people fully benefit from the current international Conventions.

4.15. The European Economic and Social Committee will take into account the content of the present opinion in its work on the Convention on the future of Europe.

4.16. The European Economic and Social Committee will disseminate the present opinion to relevant European and national disability organisations.

Brussels, 17 July 2002.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke Frerichs

(1) Passive policies meaning different types of benefits that disabled people might receive when out of the labour market.

(2) Eurobarometer Report 54.2 (April 2001).

(3) COM(2000) 284.

(4) Resolution on Towards a Barrier-Free Europe for People with Disabilities A5-0084/2001.

(5) "Disability and social participation in Europe" Eurostat, 2001.

(6) "Ressources, services, temps: trois éléments inséparables d'une politique familiale" Coface Handicap, April 2001.

(7) "Disability and social exclusion in the European Union: time for change, tools for change", a report produced by eight disability organisations under the auspices of the European Disability Forum and which was carried out by the University of Athens.

(8) The UK Employers' Forum on Disability is a network of UK employers interested in disability issues. The Forum members employ over 22 % of the UK workforce. The Forum provides support to employers who intend to employ disabled people or improve their service to disabled customers.

(9) "International survey project on strategies for the retention and inclusion to employment of disabled people" by Patricia Thornton, Social Policy Research Unit of University of York.

(10) The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) has presented in the UK the so-called "disability leave", which is currently being explored. The concept is similar to that of maternity leave, allowing a person who has acquired a disability to leave his/her job for some time to obtain the necessary rehabilitation and then resume work within the same company.

(11) European Commission Communication Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality (COM 2001) 678.