IATE Term of the Week: EU Disability Card

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Picture of different people (skintones/one in a wheelchair) wearing masks and holding hands in the background. Has the words

The EU Disability Card is a card that grants disabled people access to benefits in different areas, such as leisure, sport and transport. First launched in February 2016 as a pilot project, this card is only valid in the EU countries that participate in the EU Disability card system. The eight pilot countries are Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Malta, Romania, and Slovenia. The pilot project ended in 2019, but the card was kept by most of the participating countries.

There are two types of cards that the participating countries have to choose from: either one with the letter A in the right-hand corner, or one without. Personal assistants of those with the card including the letter A are also able to get reductions and benefits. This leads to complications if someone is traveling to a country which doesn’t have the letter A-type card system, or vice versa.

While the EU disability card project is extremely promising, the project has its limitations. For example, each member state gets to determine which scope the card covers, which can lead to cardholders from certain countries accessing fewer benefits than cardholders in others do. That being said, the pilot project was assessed by the European Commission and its report was published in 2021. The project was evaluated with a positive outcome, and the European Commission announced in March of 2021 that it intends to propose, by the end of 2023, an EU-wide disability card.

On November 30, 2022, the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs for the Committee on Petitions hosted a workshop in Brussels, focusing on the rights of persons with disabilities. The proposal of a disability card including all the EU member states was discussed, as well as disability assessment, mutual recognition, and the various obstacles that people with disabilities face. The workshop was attended by experts in the field and representatives from different EU institutions.

The proposed EU-wide Disability card is something that, by guaranteeing equal access to benefits across borders for people with disabilities, will positively affect millions in Europe. According to the European Council of the European Union, 87 million or 1 in 4 European adults have some form of disability. Of that disabled population, 1 in 2 people report that they feel some type of discrimination in their daily life. The recognition of this card in all of the EU-Member states is an important step in making life easier for people with disabilities as they travel or move around the EU.

References

ec.europa.eu. (n.d.). EU disability card. [online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1139 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2022].

European Disability Forum. (n.d.). EU Disability Card – European Disability Forum. [online] Available at: https://www.edf-feph.org/eu-disability-card/ [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

Fobe, A. (n.d.). The EU Disability Card – History and Background | European Blind Union. [online] www.euroblind.org. Available at: https://www.euroblind.org/newsletter/2021/june/en/eu-disability-card-history-and-background [Accessed 28 Nov. 2022].

www.consilium.europa.eu. (n.d.). Disability in the EU: facts and figures. [online] Available at: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/disability-eu-facts-figures/#:~:text=87%20million%20Europeans%20have%20some [Accessed 29 Nov. 2022].

www.europarl.europa.eu. (n.d.). PETI Annual Workshop on the rights of persons with disabilities | Workshops | Events | PETI | Committees | European Parliament. [online] Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/peti-annual-workshop-on-the-rights-of-pe/product-details/20221118WKS04681 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2022].

Written by: Margaly Monelus

Margaly M.
Born in the United States of America in 1996, she is currently taking part in the Master in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at the University of Luxembourg. She holds a bachelor in sociology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has spent 4 years as a native English teacher, living and working in South Korea and France. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages and improving her vegan baking abilities.