Mitsotakis meeting with members of the National Confederation of the Disabled and the National Accessibility Authority

“People with disabilities must have all the rights enjoyed by all Greek citizens and of course our commitment to take care of every day, not just this day in which we honor people with disabilities, every day to put it into practice,” he said. The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the meeting he had at the Maximos Palace with the members of the National Confederation of Persons with Disabilities and the National Accessibility Authority in the context of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The rights of the disabled was the first horizontal public policy undertaken by the Government in August 2019, while today’s meeting at the Maximos Palace took place exactly one year after the submission of the National Action Plan for the Rights of the Disabled, a full program of 6 pillars and 30 actions, quantified, with specific timetables and accelerating body per action.

“This horizontal policy will still have a long way to go to achieve the desired results. However, I believe that we have matured a lot as a society, at least in terms of discrimination against people with disabilities, and this day is an opportunity to see “where we have progressed, to point out any weaknesses”, the Prime Minister added during the meeting where the operation of the amea.gov.gr.

“We are in constant interaction with both the ESAMEA and the National Accessibility Authority. Multiple accessibility actions are currently underway, for the first time all public buildings are being recorded so that there is a full assessment of the level of accessibility and The logic of autonomous living enhanced by the Personal Assistant, the existing plan for deinstitutionalization, the logic of promoting culture for all, I symbolically consider a great moment of the last years the operation of the Acropolis elevator that allowed all our fellow citizens to have the opportunity to visit it “, stressed the Minister of State George Gerapetritis.

“We would suggest that you ask all the Ministries for the Ministers to submit to the Council of Ministers, what they have done and what they will do to meet the schedules that have a horizon until ’23. And because you are a human being ‘I do and I do not tell him’ I’m sure you’ll hear that thought. It’s good to have the whole political system, I think society has to win from this, the government and the whole political system has to win, but we have to win too, because what breaks the blockade, Mr President, is “And with such actions, greater visibility is given to the issues of disability”, said the President of ESAMEA Ioannis Vardakastanis.

“I think we have shown as a government that we can carry out important horizontal actions which just require coordination at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office, because otherwise they just end up being piecemeal flares. The truth is that this is how one could characterize our policy in I will agree and accept your invitation, within the first half of 2022, on our own initiative, to have a debate in Parliament at the level of party leaders, on a daily basis, about people with disabilities. The debates are taking place on the occasion of the current political situation, and they almost always end in a fierce confrontation which I do not think the majority of society is watching. Maybe this debate is an opportunity, Mr President, to do something different. which has no color.To be able to identify and creatively discuss sentences that can “The other parties should submit in order to help us become better”, the Prime Minister responded to the proposals submitted by the President of ESAMEA.

“The National Action Plan, as you mentioned, on the rights of people with disabilities represents an extremely important step forward in society’s commitment to the goal of universal access. disability in the social, economic and political life of the country “underlined the President of the National Accessibility Authority Konstantinos Stefanidis.

* The following flagship policies for people with disabilities have already been designed and implemented by the Government *:

-The Coordination Mechanism of Law 4488/2017 was activated, while the individual, responsible for monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Reference Points in Ministries, Regions and Municipalities, were appointed and undertaken specific work.

-Codification of the scattered and fragmented legislation concerning the rights of persons with disabilities,

-The National Accessibility Authority was established and set up,

-The recording of all buildings that house public services has started in order to be evaluated in terms of their accessibility conditions and to ensure the necessary interventions to make them fully accessible,

-The Personal Assistant was instituted, a permanent request of the disability movement, for 1,000 people with disabilities (and their respective assistants) in the first phase and funding from the Recovery Fund. Its implementation will be directly specialized by the secondary legislation,

-The Regulation for the Operation of KEPA was established for the first time, according to which now the persons with irreversible diseases will receive the foreseen allowances and benefits without the obligation of review,

-The National Deinstitutionalization Strategy has been completed,

-Semi-autonomous living apartments are created for children with disabilities and adolescents, in the context of promoting deinstitutionalization,

-Strategic Action Plan for equal access of people with disabilities to inclusive education,

– The appointment of 4,500 special education teachers and the appointment of 10,500 teachers in primary and secondary education has been completed, provided that there is an inclusive / inclusive dimension in their training,

-The Disability Card is implemented, within 2022, which will make the daily life of citizens with disabilities easier,

-The obligation of our disabled fellow human beings with mutilations and other irreversible diseases to pass committees for the certification of their specific disability has been permanently abolished,

-The relocation of KEPA on Piraeus Street to new, modern facilities at the Peace and Friendship Stadium with heating, air conditioning and parking spaces is progressing, upgrading the service in practice. At the same time, the upgrade of the respective facilities in Thessaloniki is underway,

-Early intervention program for children with disabilities and for children with developmental disorders 0-6 years old is planned and will be implemented,

-The institutions of foster care and adoption for children in child protection structures are strengthened,

-The upgrading of the skills of the trainers for the visually impaired is proceeding, based on the relevant conclusion of the working group set up in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs,

-Funding was secured through the Recovery Fund for the accessibility of our fellow human beings with disabilities in: 4,000 private residences, 700 private workplaces, 300 public workplaces and 17 social welfare centers,

– The procedures for the recruitment in the public sector of approximately 2,000 unemployed special categories have been completed, including people with disabilities and their relatives.

The meeting at Megaro Maximou was also attended by the NA Vice President of the National Accessibility Authority Eleftheria Aldous Bernidaki, the 2nd Vice President of the National Accessibility Authority Marily Christofi, the Deputy General Secretary of ESAmeA Ioannis Moscholios of ESAmeA, of the George Margetis Institute of Technology & Research presented by amea.gov.gr, the collaborator of the Minister of State and Representative of the Coordination Mechanism Mathilde Hatzipanagiotou, while the interpretation in Greek was done by Nefeli Randou.

The Secretary General of Primary, Secondary Education and Special Education, Alexandros Kopsis, the Secretary General of Social Solidarity and Poverty Control, George Stamatis, Georgios Angelopoulos, Elena Soukakou and Evangelia Chrysikou, the representative of the Union of Regions of Greece Georgios Augustidis, the representative of the Central Union of Greek Municipalities Gerasimos Fessian, the President of the National Committee for Human Rights Maria Gavros Polis Gavos and Galovis Gavounis

The following is the entire introductory statement of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis: *

I am welcoming you today at the Maximos Palace, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and I remember, my dear President, Mr. Vardakastani, a visit I made to ESAmeA when I was still the Leader of the Official Opposition. We had discussed then the need for a National Action Plan for the rights of people with disabilities. A pre-election commitment of mine that we made sure to put into practice. And I would also like to congratulate the Minister of State, Mr. Gerapetritis, who from the very beginning embraced this horizontal initiative to draw up this important national plan, from which all our public policies on people with disabilities derive.

I believe that in a relatively short period of time and despite the great difficulties of Covid, many important steps have been taken in the right direction. I will mention only a few: The institutionalization of the Personal Assistant, now remains the elaboration and issuance of the relevant secondary legislation in order to implement this – I believe very important – initiative for people who need support in order to have truly equal rights and effective accessibility. I support the amendment of the rules of operation of the KEPA, so that people with permanent disabilities do not have to re-certify the absolutely obvious suffering. The new positions that have been announced for people with disabilities, but I want to make a special mention today to the National Accessibility Authority, to congratulate her on the great work she has done in a very short time and to give her the opportunity to present a very important new initiative that is none other than the digital portal amea.gov.gr which we will have the opportunity to present to us shortly so that we can prove that our words are accompanied by deeds.

I want to emphasize that this site was designed and implemented completely free of charge by the Institute of Technology and Research and I really want to thank all the contributors to this effort.

Let me reiterate that this horizontal policy will still have a long way to go to achieve the desired results. However, I believe that we have matured a lot as a society, at least in terms of discrimination against people with disabilities, and this day is an opportunity to see where we have progressed, to point out any weaknesses, but to send a message together. that people with disabilities must have all the rights enjoyed by all Greek citizens and of course our commitment to take care of every day, not just this day in which we honor people with disabilities, every day to put it into practice.