Last month Newport man Tom Chambers attended the Strasbourg Freedom Drive campaign which was organised by the European Network on Independent Living and the Centre for Independent Living in Dublin.
The freedom drive is a lobbying campaign which takes place every second year, attended by people with disabilities from all of Europe, in order to establish a relationship between the participants and their national members of EU parliament.
This was the fourth time that Mr Chambers attended the event, which is an “extremely important meeting” so that disabled people can petition MEPs in order to fight for equal rights, opportunities, choices, and responsibilities of disabled people around the world.
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser after his three day trip, Mr Chambers said he was happy with the issues discussed at the delegation. The main issues which were raised during the event were in relation to inclusion, the cutting of grants, the losing of home help, which would lead to people being placed in institutions, and the ensuring that independent living as a human rights issue is central in all relevant policies of the EU.
Twenty-six people attended from Ireland, with Mr Chambers being the only attendee from Mayo. Mr Chambers noted that attendance was down from previous years due to the scrapping of a grant which individuals previously received in order to cover their trip; this time around the trip had to be self-funded.
Mr Chambers said that “a very emotional day for him” was when the delegation marched to the EU parliament, where a petition was handed in.
Mr Chambers said that he will continue to raise awareness of disability rights and he is already looking forward to attending the next Freedom Drive as the event “means a lot to us”.
