Speakers

Steven is a social justice activist and was appointed Executive Director of the Validity Foundation in 2022, having previously served as Co-Executive Director (2018-2022), and originally joining the team in 2013. Steven holds a law degree from the University of London and has a postgraduate research interest in legal institutions that deny autonomy of marginalised populations. Steven's interest in access to justice comes from his experience of supporting his mother with a psychosocial disability who died whilst detained in a closed British psychiatric hospital. The litigation that followed established the presumption that deaths in mental health institutions must be investigated in the same way as other deaths in detention, triggering expanded inquests in compliance with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Marc Angel is a Luxembourgish politician of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party who has been serving as vice-president of the European Parliament since 18 January 2023, and a Member of the European Parliament since 10 December 2019. Source: Wikipedia and European Parliament website

Simone Aspis is the Free Our People Now campaigns manager. Free Our People Now have set up the Bring People Home from (Psychiatric) Hospital network. They are the only national network led and controlled by People with learning difficulties and Autistic People with lived experience of hospital detention. The network have published a Bring People Home from Hospital manifesto which will be used to lobby for changes in the Labour Government's proposed Mental Health Bill. Simone has acted as a Free Our People Now peer advocate and she has over 30 years' experience of campaigning for disabled people's rights. 

Melike Bal is an undergraduate law student studying at Social Sciences University of Ankara. She is from Türkiye and she has Cerebral Palsy. She published a poetry book named “The City” in 2017. She started and managed Neurofeedback Turkey Campaign between 2019-2021 when she was a high school student. She has memberships in the Association of Women with Disabilities (ENG-KAD), the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), and the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA). Additionally, she serves as a board member of ENIL Youth. She focuses on intersectional disability activism (disabled women and youth). Also, she has a special interest for disabled children’s rights in medical settings. She envisions being a disability rights attorney. She speaks Turkish, English and a little French.

"My name is László Bercse, and I am from Hungary. I work at ÉFOÉSZ in Hungary as a self-advocate, and I am also the co-chair of our organization. I am the president of EPSA and vice-president of Inclusion Europe. I first became acquainted with self-advocacy in October 2008. Since then, I have represented my peers in many places, both abroad and domestically. My favorite motto is the principle 'nothing about us without us,' which essentially means that decisions affecting our lives should not be made over our heads without consulting us. I consider my main task to be the elimination of guardianship in Hungary, to be replaced by supported decision-making. And I believe that every person with an intellectual disability should have the right to vote in Hungary."

Kimber Bialik is the Director of Programmes & Network Development at Inclusion International, the global network of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. Kimber’s work focuses on international development and humanitarian action project and programme work, and on supporting movement building among OPDs representing people with intellectual disabilities. Kimber is also the Co-Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) Task Group on OPD Partnership.

Jamie Bolling, from Sweden, and Nadia Hadad, from Belgium, are the Co-Chairs of the European Network on Independent Living.

Josefien Cornette is an artist-writer. Josefien has a multidisciplinary practice with a background in art history, feminism, queer studies and disability studies. Josefien was an editor at rekto:verso, where they helped coordinate the issue of CRIP. Josefien works with Engagement Arts and today is helping to build a grassroots movement of crip artists in Belgium. In 2021, Josefien won the DiverGent Thesis Prize with “A House Called Pain,” a poetic autoethnography about death, grief and disability, published by Mammoet (EPO) under the title “A House Called Pain. Photo credit: David Degelin

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Ms Darmanin joined the European Commission in 2004 and worked in the field of maritime affairs and fisheries and later in consumer policy, public health and food safety.  She has also worked in the field of migration in particular in the field of asylum and as Head of the Operations Department in the European Asylum Support Office in Malta. 

Ms Darmanin is a diplomat by training, having served in the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various roles including as a First Secretary to the Malta Mission to the United Nations in New York between 1994 and 1998.

In April 2021, Ms Darmanin joined DG ECHO as Head of Unit responsible for Humanitarian Aid Thematic policies and since February 2024 she is the Head of Unit responsible for Humanitarian Aid Policies and International Humanitarian Law.

Nic Crosby is the Lead for the Small Supports Programme at NDTi, UK. This is a national programme developing new small bespoke local organisations supporting people with intellectual disabilities, autistic people and those with psycho-social disabilities to move out of in-patient institutions including secure settings. Nic has worked alongside ENIL over the past 8 years co-ordinating ECCL events, worked closely with the team at IRSSV leading DI in Slovenia, planned with people in in-patient services to help them move on and is a long-term advocate for person centred approaches to funding, planning and support.

Helena Dalli is the European Commissioner for Equality. She has been in this post since 2019. Photo credit: Publications office of the EU

Lucie Davoine is the Acting Head of Disability and Inclusion Unit at the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission. 

Theresia Degener is professor of law and disability studies at Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Bochum, Germany and director of the Bochum Centre for Disability Studies BODYS. From 2011 to 2018, she was a member (and for the last 2 years the Chair) of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She co-authored the background study of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [Quinn/Degener (2002)] and has participated in drafting the CRPD. Her research fields are anti-discrimination law, human rights, disability studies and gender studies. See:

​https://www.bodys-wissen.de

Martine Eliasson, from Norway, is passionate about advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. She currently serves as a political adviser at Uloba -Independent Living Norway.

Her journey has involved extensive study of discriminated minorities and social work, culminating in a master's degree in disability studies. This background has given her a deep understanding of the challenges faced by people with disabilities. At Uloba, her primary focus is on reforming laws and policies to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. Her goal is to ensure equal opportunities and independence for all.

Edwina Gouder is a Senior Manager within Malta’s Directorate for Disability Issues (DDI), Malta’s national focal point in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). She has been with the Directorate since its establishment in 2021, under the Ministry for Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector. Her role focuses on disability policy and the implementation of Malta's National Disability Strategy 2021-2030, aligning with both the UNCRPD and the EU Disability Strategy. Edwina represents Malta on the EU Disability Platform and its sub-groups on Employment Package and Social Services of Excellence for Persons with Disabilities. She is a warranted social worker, having studied in Malta and the UK. As a social worker, Edwina was previously involved in disability-related work and activism.​

Viera is a lately diagnosed autistic psychologist, trainer, social innovator. She has been working in the filed of advocacy and human rights concerning people with disabilities since 1998. She worked as trainer for long-term institutions in communication skills avoiding abusive situations and support the thriving of people living there for more than 12 years.  She co-founded the Slovakian educational  NGO A Center and nation-wide parental association HANS. Since 2015, she focused on the situation of autistic individuals and families in Slovakia, based on diagnosis of her daughter. She prepared several surveys and conferences to understand the situation and lack of appropriate measures in education ,therapies and independent living possibilities of the people on the spectrum. Within last three years, Viera has run the podcast series "No Manual“ Children" and the online magazine #beznávodu, dedicated to advocacy and destigmatisation of autistic lifestyle and culture. She became member of EUCAP - European Council of Autistic People and the A - Community in the Czech Republic. She also managed a project „Keys to Self- Advocacy“ , focusing on long- term training of the young people. She is and advocate to queer people as well and promotes intersectionality and intersectorality in national and European inclusive policies.

Elena Kochoska is a woman with a physical disability from North Macedonia. As an economist and legal expert, she has more than 23 years of experience as a human right defender and advocate for policy and legislative reform. Her work is grounded in the vision of inclusive equality enshrined in the CRPD, advocating for the elimination of intersectional discrimination; independent living and the empowerment of disability community; the achievement of inclusive equality, as well as participation and inclusion of disability community as partners in all development and political process. Currently, she is member of the Board of the ENIL. At the national level, she is the Chairperson of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation Board, and a consultant.

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Katrin Langensiepen is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Katrin Langensiepen is the first female MEP with a visible disability. Source: Wikipedia and European Parliament website

Diogo Martins is an accessibility expert and will be representing the Center for Independent Living Portugal. He is also the national coordinator for Portugal of the Accessible EU.

Dr. Teodor Mladenov, from Bulgaria, is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education and Social Work, University of Dundee. Previously, he was a Marie Curie Individual Fellow at the European Network on Independent Living (2017-2019), and Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Centre for Public Policy Research, King’s College London (2013-2016). He is the author of Critical Theory and Disability: A Phenomenological Approach (2015, Bloomsbury), and Disability and Postsocialism (2018, Routledge). In the period 2000-2009 he was actively involved in campaigning for disability rights in Bulgaria.

Nick Morgan carries a wealth of knowledge and experience in working with young people in the field of mental health, in the UK and across Europe. Working tirelessly with young people, to enable them to live independently alongside their mental health conditions. Nick is also the co-founder & CEO of the only, Europe-wide youth mental health non-profit, Euro Youth Mental Health, who focus on creating positive change through youth co-production & co-creation projects in the field.

Kristin Torske works for Uloba – Independent Living Norway. She is 35 years old and comes from the north of Norway. She has been a disability activist for many years, and has spent the last eight of them working for Uloba. For the last four years, she has been working on the project “Empowerment with supported decision-making”.

Martin Mühleck is Policy Officer in the Ukraine Service of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, where he covers Fundamental Rights, including the rights of persons with disabilities, in the context of accession negotiations. 

Sanni Purhonen is a disability activist, poet and the communications officer of The Threshold Association (Kynnys ry), a human rights organisation of the disabled people.

Klaudija Poropat is one of the founders of YHD –Association for theory and culture of handicap, Slovenia. She has co-organized many national and international projects, events and actions within the organization. She is an expert in presenting and lecturing about different disability issues, especially Independent Living, PA Law and Deinstitutionalisation. For more than 20 years, Klaudija has been taking part in advocacy for the achievement and implementation of PA Law in Slovenia.

Gordon Rattray is a Programme Coordinator with the European Disability Forum (EDF) working on the response to the Ukraine war and advocating disability-inclusive humanitarian action, climate action and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Gordon has over 14 years of experience working in these areas, both at the European and International levels.

Yuliia Sachuk is a disability rights advocate and human rights defender from Ukraine. She founded Fight for Right, a Ukrainian national organization led by women with disabilities. In 2022, Yuliia initiated an emergency response mechanism in reaction to the full-scale Russian invasion, which saved the lives of more than 30 thousand Ukrainians with disabilities. Her dedication extends to empowering girls and women with disabilities, encouraging their meaningful participation in decision-making processes. Now Yuliia works for deinstitutionalization in Ukraine, inclusive and accessible recovery, and more disability-inclusive international humanitarian law. 

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Yuliia Sachuk has earned a place on the BBC 100 Women list for 2022 and is an Obama Foundation Leader Europe. In 2020, she was honoured with the Ukrainian National Human Rights Award and nominated as a Candidate from Ukraine to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She holds an LLM in International Disability Law and Policy from the University of Galway, Ireland.

​Florian Sanden is Policy Coordinator at ENIL. It is his job to communicate our political objectives to decision-makers. Being disabled himself, he has first handed experience with the many barriers disabled people face. He is dreaming of he future where he can get the support he needs. At ENIL he led lobby campaigns on the European Care Strategy, the European Commision Guidance on Independent Living and the Regulation on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults. In his free time Florian provides peer support to neurodivergent people at the self-help organisation Neurodiversity Belgium. In addition, he is advisor to the board at Interessenvertretung Selbstbestimmt Leben, the largest Independent Living Organisation in Germany.

Markus Schefer is a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a Rapporteur for the combined second and third review of the European Union. He is a Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Basel in Switzerland. See: https://www.markusschefer.ch/

Rebecca Tayler Edwards (she/her) is the DPO Development Manager at Disability Rights UK, where her work is dedicated to connecting, training and promoting the sector of Disabled People’s Organisations in the UK. Her specialism is Disability Justice and Intersectionality, and she is passionate about connecting the disability movement with other social justice movements, where intersectional voices are centred. Rebecca has a background in Global Health Equity, Anti-racist organising and gender-based violence strategy. Currently, she’s sits on the steering board for the newly developed intersectional DPO, Birthing Ourselves and the Peoples Participation board for Bedfordshire Community Services (BCHS).

Ingrid Thunem (they/them), is a member of the ENIL board, as well as the President of The Norwegian Association of Youth with Disabilities (NAYD). NAYD is a umbrella organization, representing 38 organizations for youths and young adults with disabilities or chronic diseases, and works toward a universally designed society with full participation for disabled and chronic ill young adults. Ingrid is also the chair person of Queer disabled Norway a organization for queer disabled people all over Norway. The organization works towards inclusive disability policy and to arrange social gatherings for queer disabled people. Beyond being a passionate advocate for the human rights of disabled people, Ingrid has dedicating substantial efforts to building an inclusive queer community. Ingrid strives to ensure that every voice within this diverse spectrum is recognized and valued. Their home, perched above the Arctic Circle, provides them with a unique perspective on life and an abiding love for the simple pleasures, like savoring a cup of tea. They love having a bonfire and find the artic way of life very inspiring. Currently, Ingrid is immersed in academia, pursuing a PhD in the intricate intersection of sexuality and disability.

Antonia Trikalioti is a Greek disabled activist and a co-founder of the Independent Living Organisation of Greece “i-living”, of which she is the secretary general. She is an economist and a software engineer. She has been a scientific assistant of a Member of the European Parliament during the last term of office. She has been a member of the working group for legislating personal assistance of the Greek Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. She has represented“i-living” during the consultations for the Greek Strategic plan on Deinstitutionalisation. She was the scientific supervisor of the working group of the Administrative Region of Thessaly drafting the strategy on the rights of disabled persons, a member of the equivalent working group of the Administrative Region of West Macedonia, as well as the member specialised in Independent Living of the permanent committee of disabled women of the Administrative Region of Attica. She participates in music theatre and her first science fiction novel is about to be published.

Since August 2013, Senior Disability Specialist in the International Labour Organization. Between 2008 and 2013, Executive Director of the International Disability Alliance between 1999 and 2004, Director of the European Disability Forum (EDF). Was actively involved in the negotiation process of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons withDisabilities (2002-2006)

Patrick Vandelanotte is coordinator of GRIP vzw (Equal Opportunities for Every Person with a Disability). At GRIP, he is also responsible for the human rights focus, including the follow-up of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Patrick is the father of three daughters. One of his daughters has Down syndrome and is visually impaired. The choice for inclusive education brought him into contact with like-minded parents and also with GRIP.

Charlie is a passionate advocate with extensive experience in disability rights, youth engagement, and supported decision-making. With a strong focus on disability employment, Charlie has contributed to initiatives that promote inclusive workplaces and empower disabled people. Particularly interested in how society talks about disability and shifting perceptions, Charlie’s insights challenge conventional thinking and encourage more inclusive narratives.