The idea of the Independent Living movement spread to Europe from the United States of America in the late 1960s, whereas the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) was established in 1989. One of the pioneers of the
movement in Europe was Adolf Ratzka. At the age of 22, he won a scholarship to study in California. There, he experienced personal assistance and other accessible facilities. In 1973, he moved to Sweden, where he found that attitudes towards disabled people were much different. In 1984, he founded STIL – the Stockholm Cooperative for
Independent Living. The idea was to reverse the situation of disabled people, where they are perceived as service users, not patients or objects of care. In the UK, John Evans and several other disabled people living in the same institution – together known as Project 81 – managed to break free by persuading relevant authorities to redirect the funding away from the institution, so that disabled people themselves can choose their own housing and support.
Region: European Union
The Zero Project Report 2019 on Independent Living and Political Participation
The Essl Foundation MGE gemeinnützige Privatstiftung is an Austrian foundation established in 2007 by Martin and Gerda Essl, and their children, for social purposes and scientific research. Its mission is to support social innovation, social entrepreneurship and persons with disabilities.
Myth Buster: Independent Living
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) decided to publish this Myth Buster, in order to raise awareness about independent living and how it can be made a reality for all disabled people. Most of all, ENIL wanted to address the various myths and misconceptions around independent living, because of which what is sometimes referred to as ‘independent living’ is still a form of institution. ENIL hopes that this publication will contribute to a better understanding of the right to live independently in the community, as set out in Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Myth Buster: EU Funds and Independent Living
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) is a Europewide network of disabled people. It represents a forum intended for all disabled people, Independent Living organisations and their non-disabled allies on the issues of independent living. ENIL’s mission is to advocate and lobby for Independent Living values, principles and practices, namely for a barrier-free environment, deinstitutionalisation, provision of personal assistance support
and adequate technical aids, together making full citizenship of disabled people possible.
Good Practice – Towards Independent Living – A collection of Examples from Europe
The Collection includes examples from ten EU Member States – Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Many of them are from a survey of good
practices conducted by EDF at the end of 2016 and relaunched in 2017 in partnership with ENIL. The survey
aimed to gather information about national legislation, strategies and funding, community and support services, projects and experiences. Responses were received from organisations in ten countries, only five of
which proposed good practices. To complement the results from the survey, other practices were identified
drawing on ENIL’s and EDF’s experience and networks. The purpose was to ensure representation of both
new and old Member States, while covering as many areas as possible.