At the end of this summer, we received one of our best friends and supporters at VIgalicia: Judith E. Heumann. 

She is one of the members of that bunch of activists who set up the bases of the Independent Living Movement all around the world during the 70's. She had a post of responsibility during the Clinton's presidency as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services at the US Department of Education. Currently, she is the Director of the Department of Disability Services in Washington, DC.

During her stay, Judith accepted to be interviewed by us  together with Manuel Lobato, member of the ENIL Board, and Anton Novoa, President of VIgalicia.  

From that interview, we made this short video. It is only Judith's interview, in English, but it will be edited again with subtitles in Spanish soon. We are preparing the second video where these three colleagues speak about the present and future of the Independent Living Movement in a friendly chat during a warm summer afternoon.

Watch the video (part 1,2 and 3):

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=WQvPGQXO3ns

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=mBfOjwGlq6A

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf8pk-DUhMg

Vigalicia (www.vigalicia.org) was there in this great event where we all claimed for the resources needed to live an independent life. The slogan was "Human Rights: right now!"

Last 13^th September, the streets of Madrid were the stage of the II March for the Visibility of the Functional Diversity. More than 1300 people attended this event in a friendly and festive atmosphere.

Main goal of this March was to make us visible as members of a society that obligues us to live in the corner of this same society. The March based its aim on the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People and on the Independent Living paradigm.

It was organised by the Spanish Independent Living Forum which was set up in 2001 by three activists (www.forovidaindependiente.org) It is composed now by 750 people who base their work on Internet. In fact, the Foro has 0,00 euros, it has no chairs, no leaders, no offices, nothing... but it has the strength of being composed by men and women who experience discrimination day by day in the Europe of the XXI century.

There were performances, music, speeches and a Manifesto that was read at the end of the day.

You can watch here the video which sumarizes our great day.

VIgalicia, on behalf of the Spanish Independent Living Forum, wishes to thank all of you who showed your explicit support to this March. We hope to see you in the next ones! 

This is the banner that our colleagues of the Spanish Independent Living Forum have created to disseminate the official web site of the March all over the world!

If you can understand Spanish, click here to entry into this web site a find there all the documents, photos, videos, links and so on that you should know if you want to take part in this action: http://www.minusval2000.com/marcha/index.html

But which is our reason to take part and support this event?

The press release written by our colleague Francisco Chico from the Spanish Independent Living Forum explains very well our reasons. Please, read it!

WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS

By Francisco Chico

6 August 2008

On September 11^th and 12^th, 2006, a group of 20 disabled people and 10 nondisabled supporters staged a sit-in at the Spanish National Social Services Headquarters in protest of a woefully deficient Law that was being debated by the Parliament to help Disabled People who are Dependent (*) and to Promote Personal Autonomy.  These 30 people withstood being denied access to food, forced to sleep on the floors, denied access to medical help (1 person had to be evacuated due to a medical emergency) and prevented from communicating with the press, their political representatives and human rights organisations (http://www.minusval2000.com/relaciones/vidaIndependiente/%20encierro/index.html) - the Minister of Social Services eventually backed down and accepted  holding a meeting with 5 representatives of this group. 

The Law was passed on December 11, 2006, and, as this group of protesters had warned, its implementation has proven to be a complete fiasco, creating an unprecedented bureaucratic backlog, pitting the regions run by the Conservative Party against the Central government by wholesale denials of rights to severely disabled people, and systematically preventing severely disabled persons from having the right to a Personal Attendant - a right guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on Disabled Rights.

On September 15, 2007, the First Annual March was held on one of the main streets of Madrid (http://www.flickr.com/photos/13790858@N04/sets/72157602079364033; http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfyRvzXD9w) to commemorate the sit-in.  Even though the Spanish Government and the opposition party used their influence to force the Disabled Organisations (tacitly threatening to cut their subsidies) and news media to boycott this event, over 1,000 people showed up (hundreds in wheelchairs, scores of disabled children) coming from all parts of Spain.  This protest proved to be the first major protest by Disabled People in 25 years.  No news media covered the March, preferring to cover a story about 40 people who tore up a picture of King Juan Carlos.

Now, on March 13^th, 2008, the Independent Living Forum is organizing the 2^nd Annual March for Disabled Visibility.  This group, of mostly severely disabled people from throughout Spain who communicate via the internet, is fighting to inform everyone that the Spanish Government and the opposition parties has wilfully denied severely disabled people their human rights throughout the 1980's, 1990's and 2000's, a period of incredible economic growth that simply never trickled down to the severely disabled.  To be sure, Spain next to last in the EU in Social spending, unemployment for disabled women and severely disabled men is greater than 85%.  Spain's motive?  In order to hold the World Cup (1982), the Olympics (1992), the World Expo in Seville (1992) and to comply with the requisites to enter into the Euro (1996-2002), all the political parties agreed to form a Committee (Toledo Pact Committee) which would postpone Social spending as long as possible, calling Attendant Care and Nursing Home Care a ‘pending class', which can best be translated to ‘something-that-we'll-get-around-to-someday'.

Unfortunately, the reality in Spain today is that severely disabled people have no access to Attendants (in violation of Art. 19 of the United Nations Convention on Disabled Rights), no access to public housing (in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights), no access to jobs (how can a disabled person work if he/she can't even get out of bed?), and ends up either being a burden to his/her family or being forced to live in a nursing home.  While other EU countries spend heavily to defend their disabled citizens' human rights, oftentimes incurring in budget deficits, Spain has bragged these last years about their budget ‘surpluses'.  Those whose lives depend on personal assistance for their basic human needs: hygiene, feeding, dressing, being transferred to a wheelchair or back to bed, have paid and continue to pay the price of Spanish politicians' vain pride.  This 2^nd Annual March for Disabled Visibility that will take place on September 13^th, at 6 p.m. on Atocha Street in Madrid, will probably not even merit a mention by these callous politicians, but for those fighting for daily survival, it's a day to say, "We exist, we have rights, we are human beings."   

It's a day for the news media to say, "We will be at the March and we will communicate your message of hope - especially for those who are in hidden bedrooms, unaided, abandoned and desperate beyond one's darkest fears."