14-10-2025
Workshops with representatives of the Self-Advocacy Groups
The Committee for the Protection of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (EPANA) announces the organization of two meetings (workshops) with representatives of the Self-Advocacy groups for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (PWID) operating all over Cyprus. The meetings will take place on October 15 and 16 in Nicosia and Limassol respectively. Representatives from the following organizations usually participate in the groups: Christos Stelios Ioannou Foundation, Margarita Liasidou Foundation, Pancyprian Association for People with Autism (B' Adult Intervention Center), Toxotis Foundation, Marios’s House (Spiti tou Mariou), Aikaterineio Day Centre, Morfou Day Care Centre for Adults with Disabilities, Prosvasi Association (Association Prosvasi), Apostolos Loukas Day Centre.
The meetings in each country/member of Inclusion Europe (from October 6 to 19, 2025) will be part of the preparation for the Inclusion Europe Hear Our Voices 2025 Conference, with the broader theme "Being Heard Being Seen", scheduled for next December in Brussels.
For the purpose of Conference preparation, Inclusion Europe proposed the following topics for discussion:
- Participation in Politics
- Education and Employment
- Women's Rights and Equality
- Skills for Self-Advocacy
- Independent living and Inclusion
- The right to love and start a family
After a vote, the representatives from the self-advocacy groups chose the 6th topic: "The right to love and start a family" (freedom in choosing relationships). Topics 1, 2, and 5 have already been discussed in previous sessions, and proposals have been sent to the relevant bodies.
To facilitate the self-advocates in the discussions, a questionnaire was provided. During the meetings on October 15 and 16, they will work in groups and discuss how this specific right can be implemented and under what conditions. The discussions and workshops will be a space for the exchange of views, feelings, and questions where every self-advocate will be free to express themselves. Subsequently, the proposals/views will be recorded and presented at the Brussels Conference, which will be hybrid.
It is noted that this is the first time Cyprus will participate as a country with its self-advocates representatives in the Inclusion Europe Conference.
The Committee thanks all the Day Center’s, the Boards of Directors, and the staff who support people with intellectual disabilities in their self-determination, in strengthening their skills, and in the operation of the self-advocacy groups so that they can express their own choices and decisions concerning their lives.
We all look forward to this effort continuing to be supported.