Give youth with disabilities a voice of their own

Give youth with disabilities a voice of their own

1. 
   Introduction
   

Young people with disabilities are not only the future of the disability movement - they are the generations for whom full inclusion can and shall be obtained. Mainstreaming of disability policy into inclusion on the labour marked and independent living are increasingly making it possible for new generations of people with disabilities to live independent and meaningful lives - regardless of their disability.

2. 
   Proposals
   

We urge all full member national councils to support the youth with disabilities by assisting the process of creating the framework for young people to organize themselves and develop their voice within national councils. Furthermore we urge all full member European non-governmental organizations to support similar initiatives on a European level. To lead the way in this work, EDF itself shall support youth with disabilities by taking the following actions:

• 
  Assisting in fundraising and support the realisation of a youth event on European level in order to gather youth with disabilities from all over Europe;
  
• 
  Helping locating and involving relevant youth work on both a national and European level in order to gather as many forces as possible in the EDF youth network;
  
• 
  Providing the necessary political support towards relevant organizations and institutions to ensure that young people with disabilities can raise their voice for themselves within EDF and its member organisations;
  
• 
  Supporting the work of youth with disabilities by assisting in finding funding which would enable the development of among other possibilities joint activities, exchanges, etc;
  
• 
  Establishing a youth employment exchange program giving youth the possibility of employment experience within our organisations.
  

Youth with disabilities needs to be represented within general disability organizations. So, EDF must continue the internal work on strengthening young people within the organization through the EDF Youth Committee.