Christmas Wishes
THE NET’s Board, representing its 20 members, wishes you a Merry Christmas and may 2025 be a year full of health, love, happiness, solidarity and creativity!
Press Release: Conference «Opening Doors: How Can Disability Support Services Unlock the Open Labour Market?»
The international conference “Opening Doors: How Can Disability Support Services Unlock the Open Labour Market?” was held successfully in Athens on October 17-18, organized by the NET and EASPD.
The conference was honored by the presence of several distinguished guests, including the outgoing EASPD Board President, James Crowe, the President of the Network Board, Giorgos Papadakis, the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family, Sofia Zacharaki, the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Niki Kerameos, and the Secretary-General for Social Solidarity and the Fight Against Poverty, Prodromos Pyrros.
Also attending were the Secretary-General for Demographic and Housing Policy, Konstantinos Gloumis-Atsalakis, the Head of Disability Child Support at the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, Dimitris Nikolski, the Director of EOPYY, Theano Karpodini, former MEP of New Democracy, Stelios Kymbouropoulos, the representative of the Shadow Minister for Disability Issues and member of New Democracy, Giorgos Tousias, and the General Director of the General Benevolent Fund of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, representing Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, Reverend Father Vassilios Chavatzas.
The conference attracted a remarkable number of experts and professionals in the field of disability from Europe and the U.S. to explore viable solutions and policies aimed at promoting the employment of people with disabilities in the open labor market. Through specialized panels, fundamental topics such as best practices in the workplace, the necessity of reasonable accommodation, and the use of innovative technologies to improve accessibility and participation were discussed.
During the workshops, participants had the opportunity to exchange practical applications and creative ideas, which will play a crucial role in shaping a comprehensive policy recommendations document. The conference also emphasized the importance of legislative support for supported employment and the need for stronger collaboration between public authorities and private enterprises to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce.
The conference concluded with a positive affirmation of all partners’ commitment to continue their efforts and disseminate the outcomes of the event, aiming to promote equal employment opportunities and strengthen social inclusion. The participation, interaction, and cooperation recorded at the conference ensure a dynamic future outlook, aiming to create a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all.
As part of the conference, on Saturday, October 19, the elections for the EASPD Board of Directors were held. Warm congratulations to Agapi Papadaki, the candidate representing the NET, who was re-elected to the EASPD Board, focusing on Early Childhood Intervention. The new EASPD President is Kirsi Konola. Congratulations to her and the new Board, and we wish them success in their work.
The NET Board sincerely thanks all those who participated and contributed to the successful organization of the conference and is committed to holding similar actions in the future to inform and raise awareness in the community.
Special thanks go to the sponsors and contributors who helped make the conference possible:
- Donor: John S. Latsis Foundation
- Donor: Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport
- Hellenic Air Force Orchestra
- VIP Parties
Sincerely,
The Board of the NET
Conference : «Opening Doors: How Can Disability Support Services Unlock the Open Labour Market?»
Conference
«Opening Doors: How Can Disability Support Services Unlock the Open Labour Market?»
17-18 October 2024, Athens
The European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) and the Greek Network of Services for Persons with Disabilities (the NET) invite you to register for the Conference ‘Opening Doors: how can disability support services unlock the open labour market?’
The conference will:
- Identify different models available to support persons with disabilities to access open labour market opportunities.
- Inspire businesses with strategies to improve inclusion within their workforce.
Showcase practical approaches and innovative tools to deliver open labour market outcomes. - Explore fast-growing job sectors with new employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
- Look at creating legal frameworks to increase open labour market inclusion.
Deadline to register: 1 October 2024
The conference will take place in English, with Greek Interpretation and real-time captioning in English./em>.
Annual General Meeting of the NET
The Annual General Meeting of the NET was successfully completed on Friday 26 April 2024, in the presence of the Secretary General for Social Solidarity and Poverty Alleviation of the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family, Mr. Prodromos Pyrros.
The representatives of the institutions-NET’s members had the opportunity to have a constructive discussion with the Secretary General, indicating the issues that concern the institutions and their beneficiaries, the issues that need immediate solution and to declare their availability to contribute with their specialized knowledge and years of experience in the field, to the formulation of new policies concerning people with disabilities.
Make it Work: The road towards Work Inclusion
“Make it Work: the road towards Work Inclusion” is a project implemented by the project promoter MARGARITA VTC and the partner Association of Parents, Guardians and Friends of People with Autism Larissa Prefecture, in the framework of the BUILD programme. BUILD is co-funded by the European Union, through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, the Bodossaki Foundation and the NGO Support Centre.
Our aim is to strengthen the policy dialogue for the Supported Employment for people with intellectual disabilities and autism in Greece, through:
- a survey on employees with intellectual disabilities and autism, employers and special education organisations
- a best practice workshop with the French organisation LADAPT
- a workshop on Supported Employment in Larissa
- a raising awareness campaign through social media
- and meetings with the stakeholders to promote the political dialogue.
TransitAction: Breaking Barriers & Supporting Young Adults in their Transition to Employment
The TransitAction Project provides, Young Adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (YAASD), their Job Coaches and other actors in their lives, new skills and innovative tools to support them overcome the challenges in transitioning from education to employment. The project has adopted, tested and provided training across a broad range of resources that are accessible on the TransitAction website.
Work@ble: Digital Job Coaching Tools & Methods for People with Disabilities
Work@ble is a 2-year European project that brings together organisations working on job coaching to people with disabilities with different expertise, the creators of the FROG methodology and one expert on developing accessible IT solutions.
Work@ble tackles these the digital challenges faced by people with disabilities and the VET mentors/job coaches by developing an educative digital e-Scape Room accessible to people with disabilities. The e-Scape Room will serve to assess and train their job skills, and also to contribute to reduce the digital divide.
Work@ble outcomes
- The e-Scape Room to train and assess job skills tailor-made to people with learning needs and cognitive difficulties due to disabilities.
- Guidelines for job coaches and VET mentors in the use of the e-Scape Room
- Collection of job coaching resources and tools addressed to people with disabilities.
Jump to Job! Increase Employment Among Young People with Disabilities
Jump to Job! is an Erasmus+ funded project coordinated by EPR in partnership with other six organisations including EPR members GTB (Belgium), Theotokos Foundation (Greece), URI (Slovenia) and Fundacion INTRAS (Spain) and the University of Leuven Limburg, (UCLL, Belgium) and LYK-Z (Norway). This project focuses on training peers and job coaches for young people with disabilities.
The main objective of this project is to increase employment among young people with disabilities (YPWD). The related four key aims are:
- YPWD are more self-confident and have a more proactive approach to job search.
- Job coaches and YPWD have a stronger, more fruitful relationship, supporting real job inclusion.
- Companies are able to adapt their environment and work process to create sustainable jobs for YPWD.
- Job coaches’ training is effective and takes into account the inputs and insights from the YPWD and is also co-produced with the YPWD and the peer mentors.
IPAT: Integrative Parents’ Autism Training
IPAT aims to increase awareness about the role and the importance of the parental training in the global management of the needs of autistic people, to increase accessibility to effective training, to motivate parents to use a valid self -training approach at different stages of life, in order to advocate for the rights and social inclusion of autistic individuals and eliminating stigma.
Right to Connect: Digital inclusion for persons with intellectual disabilities
Right to Connect is an ERASMUS+ project that aims to improve the digital literacy for people with intellectual disabilities by developing an e-learning platform co-designed with the users.