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Empowering older and disabled people in the EU

We strongly recommend the launch of a specific EU research programme addressing the particular needs of older people and people with disabilities within the context of the Fifth Framework Programme on Research and Development.

Background/reasons why:

All EU Member States are being faced with demographic, structural, social and technological changes of major importance, which are likely to have consequences in a variety of fields:

• financing of social security systems: society is ageing, due to increased longevity on the one hand and declining birth rates on the other. There is an interdependence between the number of people in employment and those no longer active in the labour force: a decreasing number of active people will have to guarantee the financial and social security for an increasing number of inactive or retired people: the ratio of "active/dependent" is 2.9 to 1 at this moment. However, by 2040 this is expected to be 1.4 to 1 (OECD).
  
• financing and organisation of health and care services. It is estimated that by 2020, 25 % of the population will be over 65 years of age. The number of people over 80 - particularly at risk of frailty and dependence- will increase even more. In this context a 300% increase of people over 80 years old in the period from 1960 until 2020 is forecasted. In addition, the prevalence of disability and functional problems in daily life is increasing rapidly due to ageing, accident rates and modern health technology (due to the fact that this enables people to live longer, thereby increasing the risk of disability and ill- health).
  
• declining informal care potential: families are getting smaller, with an increasing number of women entering the labour market. Often, family members are dispersed over long distances.
  
• impact of technological developments: rapid technology change has an impact on all citizens. This is heavily experienced in the "information society", in the whole of the consumer arena, in the growing need for life-long learning initiatives and skills-updating as well as in the man- machine interaction.

Apart from the need described above to reorganise the structure and organisation of resources including social expenditure, health expenditure and structures of services, he current developments pose a threat to basic principles of society such as integration of , active participation by , and inclusion for all.

Against this background , there is an obvious need to focus on strategies to include and empower our older and disabled citizens of Europe. Rehabilitation strategies/assistive technologies (AT) have clearly demonstrated their usefulness towards attaining this goal, i.e. providing better quality of life to the disabled or older individual, as well as having positive consequences for relatives, social networks, service provide - in other words the society at large.

There is also a need to stimulate industrial developments in the field of technology for disabled and elderly and to strengthen SMEs - thereby promoting competitiveness - as well as to qualify the professional actors in this important field. Pooling of resources in research, industry, education, providing quality services, will have a boosting effect and will lead to a solid platform for industrial competitiveness. Networking and industrial alliances will further stimulate industrial advancements, and counteract the present market fragmentation.

Furthermore, there is a need to position European AT-industry to enter new markets inside and outside the EU, and, more specifically, to challenge the advantages of the US industries as a result of the strong regulations on accessibility for persons with disabilities to the living, working, educational, leasure environment in particular to the telecommunication and information technology oriented equipment, systems and services (ADA).

All Member States are facing the same challenges. Yet, the current proposals for the structure and content of the Fifth Framework do not reflect these important issues - which will impact on European society as a whole.

Content of a future programme:

We propose an interdisciplinary, autonomous, comprehensive R&D programme, dedicated to research initiatives in relation to disability and ageing, and living conditions. Such an initiative should be based on a holistic approach, i.e. encompass human sciences, social sciences, behavioural and biomedical sciences, as well as rehabilitation and technology. Areas where in our opinion the emphasis should lie are, for example, characteristics and needs of the target population, on methods and processes to facilitate assessment, restoration, and enhancement of individual functioning and capacities, on organisational issues, on assistive technology, on universal design and accessibility to consumer goods and services.

Practical results, of direct use to the EU citizens, should be guaranteed by basic R&D as well as applied actions.

In addition, we strongly recommend that all R&D programmes of the Fifth Framework Programme should include older citizens and disabled people in their target groups, i.e. mainstreaming, which could be facilitated by the ongoing work and outcome of the specific programme.

A targeted programme to empower and include older people and disabled people will be welcomed by the European population, since it will not only be to the benefit of affecting of the 15-20 % disabled and/or older people, but to a much larger part of the population, i.e. relatives and social support networks.

The programme as outlined above will lead to the knowledge, solutions and products needed to approach universal access to society. Furthermore, it will provide knowledge to empower self-management and independent living for older and disabled people. In spite of the current fragmentation of the area, it will create a solid knowledge base to meet the urgent demands for alternative strategies to serve this particular target group, as well as serving European society as a whole.

The proposed programme has the full support of a vast number of organisations, agencies, and institutions in Europe. In this context reference is made to several studies and publications. (see Appendix).

We call on the European Commission, all relevant national Ministries, the European Council of Ministers and members of the European Parliament to support the above proposal and to take it into account during the deliberations and discussions concerning the content of the Fifth Framework Research and Development programme.

We also are confident that European industry will support the above proposal in the planning and development of new products and services.

The time is right to establish such a programme, in order to meet the demands of these increasing groups of the population and all those connected to them.

References:

Draft Resolution of the Council of the European Union and the Ministers of Social Affairs, meeting within the Council of 2 December 1996 concerning Equality of Opportunity for Disabled People.

Declaration of Principles of Principles of the Council of the European Union and the ministers of Social Affairs meeting within the Council of 6 December 1993 to mark the end of the European Year of Older People and Solidarity between the Generations.

Resolution of the Honory Council of the HEART project. Final joint declaration of the meeting of the Council in Madrid, 16-17 October 1995 in the presence of the minister of Social affairs of Spain and the minister of Health and Social affairs of Sweden and representatives of member states. Implementation of the HEART (Horizontal European Activities in Rehabilitation Technology) study proposals, requiring action at European level.

Assistive Technology: A powerful Tool for Self-management and Social Integration, Four Area Action Plan. O. Lorentzen.. [et al.]: DG XIII, EU-TIDE office, April 1995.

Assistive Technology for the disabled and elderly; regulations and policy options. Report for the European parliament, Scientific and Technical Options Assessment (DGXIII - STOA/2929 Luxemburg), 26 pp, March 1996.

January 1997.

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