Fundamental statement

GRIP (Equal Rights for Each Person with a disability)

I. Statement of role

GRIP, which in English stands for Equal Rights for Each Person with a disability, has noted that people with a disability are discriminated against and strives to achieve equal rights and opportunities for everyone in its role as a civil rights movement.

GRIP will influence society and policy to achieve self-determination, independence, equal treatment and the participation of people with a disability in an inclusive society.

II. Vision

Everyone is different. The recognition of this rich variety and the achievement of a society which also reflects this diversity in all domains create social added value. Each citizen must have the opportunity – regardless of her or his gender, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, civil status, birth, wealth, age, belief or view of life, current or future health status, disability or physical characteristic - to participate equally in each economic, social, cultural or political activity accessible to the public on the basis of his or her own choice.

People who are nonetheless directly or indirectly discriminated against in one way or another and as a result cannot participate fully in and contribute to this society must have the right and opportunity to claim their place in society.

Many groups in the population are discriminated against today (women, foreigners, gays and bisexuals, people with a disability, etc.). GRIP wishes to become involved in the civil rights movement on behalf of people with a disability, focuses on actual demonstrable wrongs carried out against this target group and aims to combine forces with other groups in the joint pursuit of equal opportunities. The starting point here is the principle of the equality of value.

Thinking about 'disability' itself has rightly evolved in recent years from a medical model where the individual person has to adapt and 'integrate' and disability that impeded self-determination and full participation in society to a social model based on human rights in which an inclusive society adjusts itself.

Dividing people into 2 groups (people with and without a disability) has a stigmatising effect. A society benefits more from focusing on citizens' competences and strengths than by becoming fixated with disabilitys and limits. This occurs by taking account of limits and needs as the result of an occasionally very serious disability among other things. An equally valued and high quality life must be guaranteed via adaptations, aids and assistance. People with a disability, whether or not supported by people of trust, must be able to choose between full value alternatives to lend shape to their lives.

III. Goals

GRIP wants to achieve:

• self-determination. 'Self determination' means that people with a disability can themselves define who they are and what they wish to do with their lives.
• independence. 'Independence' means that a person with a disability can have control of resources personally to lend shape to her/his life and to achieve self-determination just like every other citizen. The causes of social exclusion and dependency must be eliminated by the authorities and an inclusive society developed.
• equal and proportional participation in society. This means that people with a disability, who form 10 % of the population, can participate equally and are represented to the same degree in all social fields.

IV. Strategy

GRIP's final goal is to achieve equal rights and opportunities for people with a disability without making a distinction:

• equal rights and anti-discrimination measures: comprehensive enforceable anti-discrimination legislation which guarantees the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and is applied rather than just paid lip service is a necessary tool for reaching this goal.
• equal opportunities: GRIP will contribute to the concrete translation of rights into equal opportunities by monitoring and stimulating policy development closely. The organisation will develop application models by namely working out how legislation can be applied optimally in practice. GRIP will influence the determination of policy and represent people with a disability to policymakers as well as promote their interests.