11/06/2026
📢 Personal assistance is not just 'a service'. It is a condition for the emancipation of disabled people.
At our COSP19 side event during the UN Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “CRPD at 20: Are we any closer to Independent Living for All?”, co-organised with GRIP - Kom op voor inclusie, our Co-Chair Nadia Hadad spoke about the importance of personal assistance and personal budgets in making Article 19 of the CRPD a reality.
Drawing from the experience of Flanders, Nadia highlighted how personal budgets can give disabled people greater choice and control over the support they receive, whether for personal assistance, home support, transport, or other services needed to live in the community.
But she also warned that progress is fragile.
Long waiting lists, inadequate funding, restrictive rules, and reforms that expand collective provision at the expense of individual autonomy can undermine the right to Independent Living.
Her message was clear: personal budgets alone are not enough. Independent Living requires a full ecosystem of support, including accessible housing, inclusive education, employment, healthcare, transport, legal capacity, supported decision-making and meaningful participation.
As Nadia reminded us, Article 19 requires states to invest in the practical conditions of liberty, equality and community life.
Independent Living means freedom, dignity, choice and control, not segregation or institutionalisation.
Thank you to the speakers, partners and participants who joined this important discussion.
Watch the full side event: https://shorturl.at/g3UJN
