Continuation

Third ENIL Seminar
Stockholm, Sweden
June 1991

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Conclusions from the ENIL Seminar

The Planning Seminar decided to organize a series of conferences in different Central and Eastern European countries. The main theme of all conferences is to be:

Europe without Discrimination, for Self-Determination and Dignity

All conferences should have a strong component of peer counselling.

The Planning Seminar appointed a Coordination Committee consisting of the following persons:

Petra Stephan, Berlin

Gabor Zalabai, Budapest

Josef Hurt, Prague

Adolf Ratzka, Stockholm

Ekaterina Kim, Moscow

Mihkel Aitsam, Tallinn

Gallina Atanassova, Sofia

plus two additional persons to be appointed by the ENIL board.

The task of the Committee is to coordinate topics and dates of the planned events.

The aim is to hold the meetings at six months intervals.


The following venues and topics were agreed upon:

Berlin: "Legislation and Disabled People in Politics"

Host Organizer: Petra Stephan, Probststr. 1/5.18, 0-1020 Berlin, Germany

Budapest: "Personal Assistance"

Host Organizer: Gabor Zalabai, Ady Endre U. 65, 1221 Budapest, Hungary

Prag: "Employment"

Host Organizer: Josef Hurt, Horácklova 17/1209, Praha 4, CSFR

Stockholm: "People with Disabilities and Business"

Host Organizer: Adolf Ratzka, STIL, Norrbackagatan 41, 113 41 Stockholm, Sweden

Moscow: "Education and De-Institutionalization"

Host Organizer: Ekaterina Kim, Malygina Strasse 8-254, 129336 Moscow, Russia

Tallin: "Architectural Barriers"

Host Organizer: Mihkel Aitsam, EIUL, Tatari 12, 200 01 Tallin, Estonia

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Brief presentation of the host organizer

In Sweden local governments are legally responsible for providing personal assistance services for old and disabled citizens. Traditionally, local governments have had a monopoly position in financing and providing these services. Disabled people as consumers of these public monopoly services have had very little control. The quality of Swedish public personal assistance services is no worse and probably better than the quality of such services in other countries where they exist. Yet the hierarchical structure, professional orientation of the staff prevents the system to respond to our individual needs.

In Sweden there are presently 8 personal assistance user cooperatives, the first and largest being STIL, the Stockholm Cooperative for Independent Living. STIL is the first alternative to the public assistance services. The cooperative's purpose is

• to enable its members to improve the quality of their personal assistance by being employers of their assistants
• to train and support members in the employer role.

Each member has his or her personal assistance need assessed by the local government. The need is expressed in a certain number of hours of services a week. For persons who wish to arrange the services themselves through membership in STIL the cooperative charges the local government a certain price per hour of services. These funds cover assistants' wages and STIL's administrative costs.

The cooperative is the legal employer of our assistants. The presently 90 members (1991) have a total of 400 assistants together. But we do not share assistants. Each coop member is responsible for recruiting, training, scheduling and supervising his or her own personal assistants. We do not live together in one house, in the same apartment building or even the same city. Each of us lives in his own apartment or house with or without family. We are spread out over the whole county and consider our individual housing situation as completely unrelated to our need of personal assistance.

By establishing personal assistance cooperatives the Swedish Independent Living movement pursues three goals:

• to enable service users to take control and responsibility over their own lives,
• to create training and employment for persons who have been considered unemployable because they need personal assistance at work,
• to use these self-help schemes for income generation for the movement.

STIL is now an established and expanding business with a present annual turnover of $6 million. Among the many advantages of our scheme are the changes that members have undergone. There is a strong sense of pride and accomplishment. Instead of limiting ourselves to complaining about the poor quality of the public services, we demonstrated for ourselves and the general public that persons with disabilities are capable of taking their affairs in their own hands. The demonstration of the viability of our vision and our capabilities has gained us respect among politicians and civil servants. We generate good will in the community and contribute to an improved image of people with disabilities. Representatives of STIL are now considered experts and are invited to speak on cooperatives and how to improve the quality of public services.

Running our own business provides members of STIL with an exposure to managerial training which many of us would have never had given the high rate of unemployment among people with disabilities.
Instead of turning to government and private corporations for grants to finance our movement, we try to generate our own funds by achieving a surplus in our business activities. We use part of our administrative resources for spreading the Independent Living approach in the country, for membership development, courses and seminars and international work through ENIL, the European Network on Independent Living and the DPI Independent Living Committee.

STIL is also the base for Independent Living Import, a small group which is interested in promoting the economic independence of disabled individuals and organizations of disabled persons in developing countries. The group imports goods produced by such organizations and sells them in Sweden. So far we have been selling toys, greeting cards, and leather goods from such countries as Zambia, Ghana, Mexico, Thailand and Sri Lanka.



"Everybody's favorite little cripple"is one of STIL's foremost educational tools. All of us, at some time, in some way, behave like him. Our task is then to become alert to these tendencies in ourselves and others and to help each other in changing this behavior.

You can read more information about STIL in English.

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Participants at the ENIL Stockholm Seminar

Ms. Gallina Atanassova, UDPB 21, Gavril Genov Street, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

Mr. Atanas Vassilev interpreter, Office of the President of the Republic, 2, Dondonkov Bevd, Sofia, Bulgaria

Mr. Josef Hurt, Prague Wheelchair user Organ, Horackova 17/1209, 140 00 Prague, Czechoslovakia

Mr. Petr Vojtí personal assistant, Prague Wheelchair Organization, Jordana Jovkova 3263,
143 00 Prague 4, Czechoslovakia

Mr. Hans-Reiner Bönnig, A-Saefkow Platz 12 W 5/3, 1156 Berlin, Germany

Dr. Ilja Seifert, Leipziger Straße 54/12.6, Berlin 1080, Germany

Ms. Petra Stephan, Probststr. 1/0518, 1020 Berlin, Germany

Mr. Gabor Zalabai, Ady Endre ut 65, 1221 Budapest, Hungary

Mr. Rafaello Belli, Italian Committee ENIL, Via Giuliano Bugiardini 10, 50143 Firenze, Italy

Mr. Pippo Curreri, Italian Committee ENIL, Via F.P. Frontini, 18, 90145 Palermo, Italy

Mr. Mihkel Aitsam, Eesti Invaliidide Ühning, Näituse 16A-1, 200016 Tallinn, Estonia

Ms. Ekaterina Kim, Molygina Street 8-254, 129336 Moscow, Russia

Mr. Mati Kuuse, RSK Invasport, Rohuneeme tee 84 Haabneeme, 203006 Harju raj, Estonia

Ms. Marianne Mikko observer, Eesti Radio,Vabaduse 134, 200100 Tallinn, Estonia

Mr. Leon Sarkisyan, Moscow Institute-Internat, Prospect Andropova, 19 -157, 115470 Moscow, Russia

Ms. Dorothee Riedel interpreter, Petersens Väg 2, 127 41 Stockholm-Skärholmen, Sweden

STIL members
Mr. Bror Bengtsson
Mr. Bengt Elmén
Mr. Adolf Ratzka
Ms. Ingela Skyllberg

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