Hungarian man with Down Syndrome wins ECHR court case

A Hungarian man with Down Syndrome, with the support of Inclusion Europe member ÉFOÉSZ (Hungarian Association of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities), has been successful in his appeal to Strasbourg’s European Court of Human Rights after he was refused the right to vote in 2010.

Sándor Harmati was denied the right to vote, having failed to meet the criteria set out by the Hungarian state. According to Hungarian law in 2010, any person with an intellectual disability with a legal guardian is automatically refused this right. Now, after four years of waiting, the court has decided that Sándor’s complaint was right. The judgment is thus important in that it proves that no person with an intellectual disability can be automatically deprived of universal suffrage. Read more

Inclusion Europe earns recognition from Zero Project

A project run by Inclusion Europe has been included as one of 42 Innovative Practices 2015 by the Zero Project. The project, entitled ‘Accommodating Diversity for Active Participation in European Elections (ADAP)’, was selected from a list of 231 nominations from 58 different countries.

ADAP was organised with Inclusion Europe member organisations Nous Aussi, Enable Scotland and Inclusion Czech Republic. Having carried out research on accessibility for people with disabilities to European Elections in a number of different countries, Inclusion Europe published a national guide entitled ‘Voting For All’, which provided recommendations to national governments on solutions to accessibility issues for people with disabilities at elections. Read more