New Disability Action Plan

23.08.18 | News
Handicap rullestol sport
Photographer
Audi Nissen
A new disability action plan, aimed at removing barriers to people with disabilities and promoting access for all, has just been launched at a meeting of the Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability in Sisimiut, Greenland.

A new disability action plan, aimed at removing barriers to people with disabilities and promoting access for all, has just been launched at a meeting of the Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability in Sisimiut, Greenland.

“We will tear down the barriers that still exist for people with disabilities”, says Ola Balke of the Swedish Agency for Participation and chair of the Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability during the Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2018. The action plan outlines three priorities for co-operation between umbrella organisations, government officials and other experts. The priorities are:  

  • Human Rights

Help the Nordic countries better implement and monitor the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

  • Sustainable Development

Use universal design to enhance inclusion, promote equality and combat discrimination against people with disabilities in all parts of Nordic society by integrating strategic thinking about the disability perspective into work on sustainable development.

  • Free mobility

Promote free mobility and remove barriers to cross-border freedom of movement that affect people with disabilities in particular.  

We will tear down the barriers that still exist for people with disabilities

Ola Balke

Help for individuals

The Action Plan aims to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities by encouraging exchanges of knowledge and closer co-operation on disability policy in the Nordic Region. “It will be a key document in Nordic co-operation and will generate synergies for individuals, the Nordic countries and for Region as a whole,” Balke says. The action plan is designed to:

  • generate synergy effects for the countries and make a difference on behalf og individuals with disabilities
  • complement and support national processes aimed at inclusion in all aspects of society
  • create and enhance synergy effects with other international initiatives and inclusion processes that facilitate exchanges of experience, maintenance of competencies and the development of methods for the inclusion of people with disabilities in a range of strategic areas and selected contexts 
  • integrate perspectives on equality between men, women, boys and girls, children and young people, as well as perspectives on sustainable development, into Nordic activities in a meaningful manner.  

Greenland improves conditions for people with disabilities

In Greenland, where the meeting of the Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability has just launched the Action Plan, initiative to improve conditions for people with disabilities include Pissassarfik, a new national centre for people with disabilities, has been opened; the government has appointed a new spokesman (Tilioq) for people with disabilities and a seminar on services for people with disabilities in sparsely populated areas has been arranged.