On 4 and 5 December 2025, the European Commission hosted the European Day of Person with Disabilities conference, co-organised with the European Disability Forum (EDF). It took in Brussels (Belgium) and online, and was attended by partner organisations of EDF, organisations from across Europe representing people with disabilities, and disability advocates, many of whom were people with disabilities themselves. Among their number were Kevin Quaid, Chairperson of the European Working Group of People with Dementia (EWGPWD), and Dianne Gove, Director for Public Involvement and Ethics at Alzheimer Europe. The two-day event reinforced the crucial role of disability organisations in shaping inclusive EU policies and highlighted the collective cost of exclusion, highlighting that when people with disabilities are not fully included, societies lose diversity, economies lose talent, and institutions lose credibility.
The programme opened with speeches from: Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, European Commission; Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, Minister for Social Affairs and Housing, Denmark (via video message); Marilena Evangelou, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Cyprus; and Ioannis Vardakastanis, President of EDF. Kevin Quaid addressed the conference, on behalf of the EWGPWD, noting the importance of also including people with ‘invisible disabilities’ such as dementia. The two-day programme included the announcement of the winner of the Access City Award 2026. Zaragoza (Spain) won the accolade this year. You can find out why, here, as well as discovering more about the runners up, Valencia (Spain) and Rennes (France):
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2949
Watch the video of the first day of the conference, here: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/the-european-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2025-12-04
Watch the video of the second day, here: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/the-european-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2025-12-05
