Representatives of Ciy municipality of Palilula signed the Memorandum of cooperation with the representatives of 33 NGOs from Nis. They will work on realisation the municipal development strategy. On behalf of DPOs this Memorandum signed CIL Nis and Association of students with disability Nis.

Muscular Dystrophy Association of Zlatibor region and Muscular Dystrophy Association of Morava districts started the project “The steps on the path of development” funded by Ministry for Labor and Social Policy.  The project will be focused on strengthening and capacity building of DPOs for more responsible and more effectively definong their activities, development of support services and advocacy to achieve a better quality of life for people with disabilities.

In the next seven months this project will be implemented through three programs:
• Education through training and seminars for representatives of DPOs

• Connections of DPOs, network creation and partnerships
• Information activities and public relations program.

BRUSSELS(Reuters) – Rights campaigners say they will have to keep on fighting to improve the treatment of disabled people when flying in Europe, after a meeting with the European Union’s top transport official yielded little progress.

“This is going to take years and years to break down the discrimination that persons with disabilities are facing every day,” Stig Langvad, of the European Disability Forum EDF.L, said on Monday. EU officials met the campaigning group, representing roughly 80 million disabled Europeans, last week to discuss the difficulties facing passengers in wheelchairs when flying in the 27-member bloc.

But the EDF said it won little in the meeting with Siim Kallas, the EU transport commissioner. “Kallas was not really keen on looking into the perspective of how the implementation (of disability rights laws) is going,” Langvad told Reuters. Airlines have been the target of a string of pending lawsuits over practices when dealing with disabled travellers.

But Langvad said there had been little progress in trying to make airlines apply existing passenger rights laws consistently throughout member states or ensure that equipment such as wheelchairs are handled properly by airport staff.

The EDF will continue lobbying the EU’s transport directorate to regulate compliance with existing laws and improve airline staff training, Langvad said. The EU still plans to revise the existing guidelines to clarify in what circumstances passengers can be denied boarding, he added.

The transport directorate did not return calls or reply to emails asking for comment.

DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

The meeting was called after complaints about several European airlines reached the European Commission, including one from the U.N.’s disability representative, who was prevented from boarding a European flight on Swiss International Airlines in April.

Ryanair (RYA.I) lost a lawsuit in Britain earlier this year in a case over a wheelchair-bound woman who was stuck on the runway when a requested hydraulic ambulance lift to raise her to the plane’s door was not available. The woman’s husband carried her onto the plane on his shoulders and the court found that employees gave no help.

Air Europa, EasyJet (EZJ.L) and Air Berlin (AB1.DE) have also been the subjects of recent complaints to the Commission.A 2006 EU law requires airports and airlines to board passengers with reduced mobility. However, an assessment from April found that compliance has been shaky at best.

Problems often occur when disabled passengers have already booked tickets and requested assistance or mobility equipment. They find the equipment does not arrive or is late, wheelchairs are mishandled or in some cases passengers are forbidden to board unless accompanied by a non-disabled person.

In many cases, problems arose because disabled passengers simply did not know their rights, it found.The European Commission said in April it would take a tougher stance on the issue, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso promised last month to hold the first “State of the Union of Disability” to discuss policy reforms with EU leaders in December.

(Editing by Rex Merrifield and Paul Casciato)

Group 484 organised training for CSOs on Capacity building of CSOs for providing social services within the new Law on social protection. The first module was held on 4/5 July 2011 in Hotel N in Belgrade. There were 28 representatives of CSOs, including CIL representative.

Study visit to Budapest
Within the project MIDWAY CIL Serbia organised study visit to Budapest for its representatives and representatives from National Employment bureau and CRS.

Visit took place from May 29 until June 1. Serbian delegation share experience with representatives from Hotel Panda, VODAFONE, VODAFONE VOCH and Hungarian Federation of PWDs – MEOSZ, about employment of PWDs and support services for them during the working process.

Second seminar in Mataruska banja

Within the DILS project CIL organised second seminar for West Serbia cluster
in Mataruska banja.
There were eight representatives from DPOs and seminar was held from 20
until 22 of May.

CIL Serbia celebrated 15 years of work

CIL Serbia celebrated 15 years of existance and work with more than 120
members and guests in 20 of May 2011.

It’s hard to imagine with 8.8% unemployment that America will soon be facing a worker shortage as 77 million baby boomers begin retiring. Many businesses already face a skills shortage, unable to find qualified workers for positions that are open. There is a great untapped resource, however, to which these businesses can turn—individuals with disabilities.

Unfortunately, too many employers are not aware of the pool of qualified workers with disabilities, do not know how to reach them, and are concerned about the perceived costs and challenges of providing accommodations.The U.S. Chamber and the Business Leadership Network, now called USBLN, hosted a conference last week to highlight employer best practices in hiring and accommodating workers with disabilities.

USBLN is a national organization that helps build workplaces where people with disabilities are respected for their talents. I was honored to chair this organization in the 1990s. At the event, many companies shared their success stories about employing and advancing people with disabilities, marketing to consumers with disabilities, and contracting with companies owned by people with disabilities to the benefit of their bottom lines.These and other employers know that employees with disabilities are generally dependable, dedicated, hardworking, and productive. Companies that take a lead in hiring people with disabilities are positioning themselves for success when worker and skills shortages will make diversity and inclusion programs a necessity rather than a choice.

Keynote speaker Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that since the start of the recession adults with disabilities are leaving the labor force at greater than 10 times the rate of adults without disabilities. He urged the business community to increase the number of Americans with disabilities in the workforce from 4.9 million today to 6 million in 2015.To meet that goal, we need to increase education and awareness, removing stereotypes and misperceptions about people with disabilities. Groups like USBLN, with its 60 affiliates representing 5,000 employers nationwide, are changing attitudes every day.We also need to make certain that laws and regulations are conducive to inclusive hiring practices.

The Americans with Disabilities Act has always enjoyed broad bipartisan support, and we are particularly proud of the role that the business community played in 2008 when Congress passed amendments to ensure that people with disabilities have a fair chance to excel in the workplace and clarified the obligations and requirements of employers.

Let’s see if we can not only meet—but exceed—Sen. Harkin’s challenge. It’s a good thing to do, and it’s good for business.

CIL Serbia wants to share with all of you our joy as we have achieved something for which we fought for 10 years! We started our advocacy activities related to personal assistance service in year 2000 and since then we were promoting the idea through few action-research projects.

Our main goal was to make legislative changes that would include this service in Law for social protection, as one of the regular services funded by government. Since then in Serbia, four governments have been changed, and we were in most of the cases starting our fight all over again. At the same time we were organizing personal assistance service for limited number of users in Serbia, through different projects, of which the most important one was supported by the Irish Government for four years, showing in practice what quality changes in disabled persons life, provision of PA service could make.

Eventually, new Law for social protection was adopted by Serbian Parliament on 31 March 2011. in which PA service is included in group of services for disabled persons providing conditions for independent living. So after 10 years we have achieved our main goal!!!We would of course have to guard the principles of the service and quality standards, because as many of you know, the term “personal assistance” could be often interpreted differently. However, at the moment we celebrate this great CIL’s achievement, sending many thanks to all of you who have supported us in this fight for years.

Serbian Alliance of Teachers, Center for Interaktive Pedagogy, Center for Educational Policy and Fund for Open Society in cooperation with Ministry for Education lauches the campaign „Everyone go to school, it is a future for all“.

Tribune is dedicated to promotion of education accessible to all and preparation the basis for inclusive education in accordance with the Law on Education in serbia from  2009.