And this is where all EU members experienced a big change. In May 2022, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) adopted a new EU Electoral Law, in time for the European Parliament elections of 2024. This was then submitted to the Council of Ministers (our National Governments) as the final decision to change the EU electoral law had to be taken by Member States. The text approved by the MEPs read:

“Every Union citizen from 16 years of age, including persons with disabilities regardless of their legal capacity, had the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament”.

While this was exciting news - until then, people with a diminished legal capacity had only been able to vote in 8 European countries - the EU had to work hard to adjust its communication and accessibility to really empower people with disabilities to cast an informed vote in 2024.

Our event in December was the first of many steps towards just that: making sure our EU-wide Network was prepared for the upcoming elections - and even more importantly, that they were prepared for us!

We gave the floor to field experts, parents, and decision-makers, and most importantly to Self Advocates. The question of Autonomy was much larger than just talking about the elections - we wanted to hear from People with Down Syndrome what living an autonomous life meant for them, have them share their own stories and experiences.

Our event took place on December 7th, at 18:00 CET (Paris Time) via Zoom. Take a look at our program on the right and read the Press Release we posted afterwards hier.