In a few years, the rights of people with disabilities may be recognized across the entire African continent.
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Brussels has set out plans for a European Disability Card, which would allow people to prove they are disabled in all EU member states.
There is currently a pilot program running in eight member states, including Belgium, where the card is being tested, but this week the European Commission put forward a proposal to extend it to the whole of the EU.
“Today we are enabling the free movement of EU citizens with disabilities by ensuring mutual recognition of disability status in Europe,” Helena Dalli, the European Commissioner for Equality, told reporters in Brussels.
“This will promote the inclusion and full participation of persons with disabilities in society by ensuring that they have easier access to targeted support in all Member States.”
Euronews spoke to Pierre Gysselinck in the Belgian capital, a physically disabled person who is one of the first people in Europe to receive the European Disability Card, who praised the idea.
“Sometimes people have disabilities that no one notices,” Giselinck said.
“For example, when I was in Italy I asked for help at a museum, but I couldn’t get help because I couldn’t prove I was disabled a long time ago.
“I wasn’t in a wheelchair then. I walked with a cane, but I wasn’t in a wheelchair. I was lucky. [this time] He bought me an electric scooter so I could visit museums.”
The card will allow people with disabilities equal access to all special benefits, such as assistance, free and priority entry to museums, and preferred parking spaces.
Recognising disabilities across the EU would also encourage travel and mobility by reducing the additional costs incurred when travelling abroad.
Yannis Vardakastanis, president of the European Forum for People with Disabilities, told Euronews that this was a major step forward.
“Our disabilities don’t disappear when we cross the border. Disability cards and parking cards are proof that we are disabled,” he said.
“So if a Belgian citizen goes from Belgium to Germany, they don’t have to prove that they are disabled – their disability card provides that proof.”
The Commission’s proposal, which comes more than 13 years after such a card was first called for, will now be debated in the European Parliament and the Council before becoming a reality in the coming years.