Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the 30th anniversary of the European Association of Service Providers for People with Disabilities

I am pleased to be here to celebrate your 30 years of supporting people with disabilities. And yes, thirty years of pushing us at the European Commission to do better. You have been an important partner for the Commission.

Look at what you have built. Today your members run 40,000 services across Europe. More than ten million people with disabilities count on them. And behind those services stand nearly two million support workers who show up every day. You bring us expertise and something even more valuable: you bring us closer to the daily lives of people living with disabilities.

Today, after three decades, you are turning a page. The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities will keep that name for just a few more minutes. You are about to unveil a new name and a new identity, so I will be careful not to spoil the surprise. But whatever the new name, your mission stays the same: helping people with disabilities live the lives they choose.

Last Thursday, here in Brussels, I met Rajaa and many others gathered at the Freedom Drive organised by the European Network on Independent Living. Hundreds of people with disabilities came from across Europe. They went through the streets, with music playing, to demand more freedoms and the right to live independently. I came away inspired.

Earlier this year, I brought together twenty young Europeans with disabilities in Brussels to talk about the barriers they still face. One of them was Adéla. On her way to Brussels, she was stopped from boarding her flight with her wheelchair battery. She was given a choice: miss the flight or leave the battery behind. Adéla came to Brussels without it.

Think about the irony. She was coming to Brussels to talk about barriers, and the journey itself became a barrier. That story stayed with me. For Adéla, accessibility meant one very concrete thing: getting on a plane with the wheelchair she depends on.