application f orm was What is Independent Living for you?. On one - PDF document

ENIL Latvian Coordinator Presentation 2013. ENIL North Reagion Meeting 2013 Estoania/Elva 22 November 2013 Hello everybody! My name is Gatis Caunitis, I am the Latvian national coordinator of ENIL. As you already know I also help to coordinate ENIL’s Youth Network. I would like to start with the story, namely how I got involved with ENIL. But even before that I will start with a few words about my background. At the age of 6 I was a child who enjoyed to run around with the other kids in the yard , a child who was curious about life around me. One day I was playing hide and seek and decided to climb into an unlocked electrical unit, where I was hit with a strong power voltage, the result of which I lost both of my arms. The next couple of years were a time of recovery, a time when I needed adapt for new life, new obstacles. But it hasn’t stopped me from being active and curious of life around me. And I am always ready to learn, have fun and discover new horizons…. For inspiration and motivation to keep fighting and living, I would like to say thanks to my family, they supported me and were strong even in difficult situations. I am also thankful to my friends in the yard, who accepted me the way I am. I believe some of you share similar experiences and know what I am talking about. A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel around Europe and to meet different people, share my own experiences and see what was happening in other European countries. I decided I wanted to live just the same way as non-disabled people, with the same choices and control over my life as all other non-disabled people around me. At that time I didn’t know there were people and a movement, which already defined this philosophy of life – the independent living movement. Unfortunately I hadn’t heard about them. At least, not until one lucky day when I received an email from a friend who recommended I apply for the European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) study session, which was surprisingly cool. Since I never had opportunity to live independently and hearing the name of movement which organized this study seminar, it made me curious and I immediately decided to participate and filled out the application form. One of the questions in the

application f orm was ‘What is Independent Living for you?’. On one hand it sounds like a easy question, but if you’ve never felt that way and all your life have lived with your parents to survive, it makes you think - it makes you think a lot! So, I started writing, and once I started writing, I realized that for me and for many, many people with disabilities living independently is not something that can be taken for granted, it is something which we have to fight for every day – an inaccessible school, theatre, even hospital! Or just to trying to leave the house. I wanted to change the current state of things for disabled people in my country (Latvia), and the study seminar I saw like a opportunity for progress. After a few months I got email from ENIL – Congratulations! I got approved and went to Strasbourg with an open mind and some hopes for a direction, a hint as to how I might actually do something. The study session was life changing for me! Thanks to the facilitators, I learned so much – about ENIL’s history, ab out the social model of disability, about campaign and lobby work, about human rights. Not one single session was boring and I was absorbing their every word. But what was equally important for me was meeting the other 11 participants. They all came from different countries, had different backgrounds, different experiences. But they were all so successful in their areas of interest, so determined to make a difference in their society! I was more than inspired by them! And at that moment I made a decision, to become a successful professional in my area and to live a life with dignity no matter how much energy it took. Having the proper support from the state (in terms of personal assistance and accessibility) this would be possible. But one needs to state his/her wishes in order for these to become reality. In fact most of the cases something more is needed – we need to fight for what we want and what we deserve! No one can expect that quality of life will be changed by being passive. Everyone has to take action, to be an active player in the script of life. The Strasbourg study session for me was the start of something! A time to set new goals in my life. And then after few months I received an email from Jamie Bolling, ENIL’s Executive Director, with the offe r to become an ENIL intern in Sweden. It did not take me very long to make the decision! But before I packed my bags and headed off to Sweden there were some other important tasks on my ‘To do list’. One of these was to find funding for myself and an assistant to undertake the internship in Sweden. When this was done, the next challenge was to find a volunteer who would be able to be my personal assistant 24 hours per day, to support me in my daily

routine, during and after work (the personal assistance system in Latvia would not cover an internship like this at present ). I placed an advertisement on the website, looking for a volunteer. I was surprised at the number of responses I received. As I was searching for a suitable person from all over Europe and I knew that the first meeting would only be at the airport in Stockholm, it was definitely not an easy decision to make. This was my first time going somewhere for a long time and with an assistant from another country without any real knowledge about them or about how they would work as a personal assistant. I am glad about the decision I made and during my time in Sweden my personal assistant and I learnt a lot from each other about ourselves and each other. The work included in the internship was on the ENIL Strasbourg Freedom Drive, the development of the ENIL northern region and the development of the ENIL youth network. This was a great opportunity for me to increase knowledge on how disability issues are handled in Sweden and at the EU level and within a European network. A given result of the internship was a increase in my knowledge of how each of our countries deal with disability issues. I learned a lot through exchanging information and examples of best practice. I really appreciate the opportunity that ENIL gave me. The experience I gained allowed me to continue work in the Human Rights arena. I enjoyed the opportunity to work with Jamie Bolling and people around Europe. I came to ENIL Sweden office to improve my knowledge – and I did that! After my journey through the ENIL study session and internship in Sweden, I become the ENIL coordinator for Latvia. The new position in ENIL allowed me to be much more involved in ENIL work. So, what does it really mean, to be National coordinator of ENIL? The national coordinator is a link between ENIL and the participants in their country. As a national coordinator I took on many tasks in relation to the Strasbourg Freedom Drive, ● I spread the word about the Freedom Drive and encouraged as many participants to take part in the Freedom Drive. ● I was the contact person for the participants going to the Freedom Drive from my country. ● I passed the information provided by ENIL about accommodation, travel and local transport to national participants.

Doing all these tasks I saw how important is that each country has its own coordinator. It gives a greater opportunity for people with disabilities to come to Freedom drive, which are one of the best events to be visible and to be closer to your country’s Members of the Eu ropean Parliament. This year’s Freedom drive made me feel proud many times! Starting with the fact that I found financial support for people to go to Freedom drive, I arranged meeting with Latvian Members of the European Parliament, I got signatures from MEPs against austerity cuts. That makes me feel proud, proud that I can be useful to society, sharing my experience and knowledge. The other things I do as Latvian coordinator, which are no less important, are gaining new contacts, keeping a good communication with Latvian MEP’s, supporting people with disabilities and sharing my own experiance. All these tasks together helps to develop the disability field in my country, improving social integration for people with disabilities and creating opportunities. I am sure that everyone knows that between UN CRPD and real life is a huge gap, a gap which we must close with our work. The current situation in Europe shows that persons with disabilities do not get government support, despite the fact that country has ratified UN CRPD. As you know ENIL is European level organization which lobbies the interests of people with disabilities in EU level. I am sure that cooperation with ENIL is one of the best ways of improving the situation in the disability field in your country. Only by working together with other organizations, with European level organizations we can improve current situation. Concluding my speech I would like to present my 2014 work plan as ENIL Latvian national coordinator. The work plan is my commitment which I plan to achieve or maintain at a high level, to increase society and government understanding about the needs of persons with disabilities, and also to increase non-governmental organizations cooperation with ENIL to achieve higher goals. Plans for next year: ● To increase the number of contact organizations in Latvia. Using internet resources to search for NGO’s in Lat via who supports the rights of IL and Persons with disabilities. Sharing with them ENIL information, to keep them involved in ENIL work.