|
Judith Klein,
INclude Executive Director, addresses the European Parliament Committee on Petitions, about the misuse of EU funds in Institutions. |
|
You could help give a group of people the greatest of gifts, the gifts of freedom and dignity, the fundamental rights that were taken away from them when they were placed in institutions.
When you go to see institutions, and then compare with what is possible when people are supported to live in the community; when you hear the stories of clients, only then can you really comprehend what institutions have taken away from these people.
You can help give freedom back to them by pressuring the Commission and the member states to implement their legal obligations under the United Nations Convention on The Rights of People With Disabilities (CRPD).
Anyone can live in the community, if the proper support is available, and life is always better in the community than it is in an institution.
Sometimes it’s very challenging to provide support, but it’s always better in the community than an institution, and it is possible.
Let me tell you about Trajan. He is a man who lives in one of our community homes in Croatia. If you were to visit him on a sunny day, it wouldn’t be long before he goes outside takes his shirt off and stands in the sun. If it was raining, you’d see him go outside and take his shirt off and stand in the rain. Why?
Trajan is deaf, blind, and mute. He was put in an institution as a child because his family didn’t know what to do with him. The institution didn’t know what to do with him either. What do you do with someone who has such difficulties in communicating? Well, they didn’t try to figure it out. Instead they put him in solitary confinement. He had been there for 30 years when we found him.
We got him out. Now, every chance he gets, he goes outside to feel the elements that he’s never felt before. He loves to go for walks. We discovered these things because community living is based on choice. With help from an Assistant, and a circle of support, Trajan, and other people, choose where they will live, who they will live with, what their life goals are, what to wear, what food to buy.
Institutional care involves a daily regimen that’s imposed on everyone. There is no one to ask for what you want, whether that’s what you want out of life, or what you want for lunch. All choices are made for you.
Recently I met Ilona, an Assistant who used to work in an institution. She has retrained to work in the community with clients who have left institutions. She said, “I wasted 20 years of my life working in an institution. I had to wash 60 people a day and change their nappies. It was like a factory. I’ll never go back to that job. Now I see my clients develop, and I’m amazed they can do things for themselves that I never imagined. They cook. They choose what to wear. They fold their clothes. They go out to visit friends and relatives. They have hobbies. Some have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Others have a job. They’re making their own lives. They’re happy. I love my job now.”
Restricting someone’s freedom, placing them under a regimen, is a form of punishment that our society reserves for criminals. How can we justify treating thousands of innocent Europeans this way? How can we justify it to the European taxpayer, when EU money is funding it? With rising euro-skepticism, can the EU afford this kind of embarrassment? I’m delighted that the Committee is being so active in monitoring the CRPD. I’m also aware that there are limits to your powers, so I urge the Committee to press the Commission to adopt the recommendations of the European Ombudsman following her investigation in 2014, including that the Commission establish a transparent and accessible mechanism under which the Commission itself investigates complaints about EU funds being used in ways that violate fundamental rights.
Despite some improvements in the new structural funds rules, member states will still be able to invest money in institutions without the Commission finding out.
If you only remember one thing from this presentation it should be this: In 20 years that I’ve been working in this field, no client that I know of who’s left an institution has ever asked to go back.
Help us restore their freedom and dignity.
When you go to see institutions, and then compare with what is possible when people are supported to live in the community; when you hear the stories of clients, only then can you really comprehend what institutions have taken away from these people.
You can help give freedom back to them by pressuring the Commission and the member states to implement their legal obligations under the United Nations Convention on The Rights of People With Disabilities (CRPD).
Anyone can live in the community, if the proper support is available, and life is always better in the community than it is in an institution.
Sometimes it’s very challenging to provide support, but it’s always better in the community than an institution, and it is possible.
Let me tell you about Trajan. He is a man who lives in one of our community homes in Croatia. If you were to visit him on a sunny day, it wouldn’t be long before he goes outside takes his shirt off and stands in the sun. If it was raining, you’d see him go outside and take his shirt off and stand in the rain. Why?
Trajan is deaf, blind, and mute. He was put in an institution as a child because his family didn’t know what to do with him. The institution didn’t know what to do with him either. What do you do with someone who has such difficulties in communicating? Well, they didn’t try to figure it out. Instead they put him in solitary confinement. He had been there for 30 years when we found him.
We got him out. Now, every chance he gets, he goes outside to feel the elements that he’s never felt before. He loves to go for walks. We discovered these things because community living is based on choice. With help from an Assistant, and a circle of support, Trajan, and other people, choose where they will live, who they will live with, what their life goals are, what to wear, what food to buy.
Institutional care involves a daily regimen that’s imposed on everyone. There is no one to ask for what you want, whether that’s what you want out of life, or what you want for lunch. All choices are made for you.
Recently I met Ilona, an Assistant who used to work in an institution. She has retrained to work in the community with clients who have left institutions. She said, “I wasted 20 years of my life working in an institution. I had to wash 60 people a day and change their nappies. It was like a factory. I’ll never go back to that job. Now I see my clients develop, and I’m amazed they can do things for themselves that I never imagined. They cook. They choose what to wear. They fold their clothes. They go out to visit friends and relatives. They have hobbies. Some have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Others have a job. They’re making their own lives. They’re happy. I love my job now.”
Restricting someone’s freedom, placing them under a regimen, is a form of punishment that our society reserves for criminals. How can we justify treating thousands of innocent Europeans this way? How can we justify it to the European taxpayer, when EU money is funding it? With rising euro-skepticism, can the EU afford this kind of embarrassment? I’m delighted that the Committee is being so active in monitoring the CRPD. I’m also aware that there are limits to your powers, so I urge the Committee to press the Commission to adopt the recommendations of the European Ombudsman following her investigation in 2014, including that the Commission establish a transparent and accessible mechanism under which the Commission itself investigates complaints about EU funds being used in ways that violate fundamental rights.
Despite some improvements in the new structural funds rules, member states will still be able to invest money in institutions without the Commission finding out.
If you only remember one thing from this presentation it should be this: In 20 years that I’ve been working in this field, no client that I know of who’s left an institution has ever asked to go back.
Help us restore their freedom and dignity.
