Papastavrou: The National Strategy for Disabled People in March

What has been done by the government and especially what remains to be done for disabled persons (), were at the heart of the Minister of State’s speech at the annual conference “The Upfront Initiative”, in which Thursday morning (15/03/2024) the Prime Minister had also spoken. As Mr Papastavrou made known, one of the topics of the next cabinet will be the National Strategy for Disabled People. “For a Greece with everyone,” he said. “An institutional leap is required to reach a society of visibility and inclusion. An institutional leap is required, because the obstacles are too many. There are obstacles of course, obstacles digitally, and in our minds. Prejudice. A holistic approach is needed not only for the government – it obviously plays an important role – but also for self-government, civil society. But it is primarily about the private sector. Because the private sector has responsibilities. It concerns each of us, our personal empathy,” the Minister stressed and added: “Things have been done, but we are far behind the rights of disabled people. It’s a matter of saying that there’s no party confrontation is also a pasé. It’s a matter that unites us all, no matter what you believe, no matter what you vote for. It is very important that it is a priority for Kyriakos Mitsotakis, but it is a matter that goes beyond us in terms of political and party beliefs. In recent years things have happened. But there are too many things still to be done. This is what the National Strategy for Disabled People, for a Greece with everyone, is trying to do, which will be presented in March to the cabinet and will be held in public consultation.” 65% of persons employed At this point Mr Papastavrou asked everyone and everyone to participate in the public consultation. “What he is trying to do is to make a holistic approach for the first time and achieve double convergence,” he noted. Answering the question “What is double convergence?” he said it is “the quality of life of disabled people compared to other people in the general population, and compared to the European benchmark”. As he said, “in disabled people, about 65% are out of work. Out of the workforce! The European average is 50%. If we go to people with mental disability, that number goes to 85%. So we’re down. Hence the need for double convergence”. “The Greek average is one of the best in Europe. It is only 8%, while in Europe it is 22%. But in the general population the school leak is 1%. So here we have an eight-fold dimension. That is why we are talking about double convergence. That is why the National Strategy must have a holistic approach. That is why we are talking about double convergence, and that is why the National Strategy has a holistic approach, because it is not a point of intervention. We really need a disability mainstreaming, we need every policy, every legislative initiative, to have that view too.” Institutional leap is needed, he also said, calling for the partnership between central government, regions, municipalities and the private sector. “The difference is that for the first time in the blue files that Kyriakos Mitsotakis gives to his ministers, there in the Annual Plan Action, the commitments entered into, actions for disabled persons, are in each minister’s annual programme. Not like until now, which was… next door. It will now be part of the main function of each Ministry, with a specific project manager, with a specific timetable, there are 170 actions that attempt to help individuals with disabilities in the social and economic life of our country,” the Minister of State stressed, closing.