The annual conference celebrates the European Day of Persons with Disabilities. At the Access City Award ceremony, which closes the conference, Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, will announce the winner of the 2022 Access City Award. This award recognises cities that are making outstanding efforts to become more accessible for persons with disabilities.

The conference - organised by the European Commission in collaboration with the European Disability Forum - take place on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 December 2021 and focuses on health, digitalisation and on the experiences and needs of children with disabilities.

In these areas, persons with disabilities still face considerable barriers:

• they are 4 times less likely to have their healthcare needs met than those without disabilities;
• only 64% of persons with disabilities have an internet connection at home, compared to 88% of those without disabilities;
• children with disabilities have problems in accessing services like health care and education, including early childhood education and care, on an equal basis with other children;
• children with disabilities are also disproportionately more likely to be placed in institutional care than their peers without disabilities.

The new Strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities aims to close those gaps and to ensure that persons with disabilities can enjoy their rights just like everyone else.

To deliver on the Strategy, the European Commission will work closely with EU countries and civil society.

 Access City Award 2022 Ceremony

The conference closes with the Access City Award ceremony on Friday 3 December at 14.00.

Six cities have a chance to win the most prestigious European award on accessibility, in alphabetical order: Barcelona (Spain), Helsinki (Finland), Leuven (Belgium), Luxembourg City (Luxembourg), Palma (Spain) and Porto (Portugal).

One of these cities will receive a special mention for making their train stations accessible, to mark the European Year of Rail.

For more information and to view the event online (in English), please consult the European Day of Persons with Disabilities conference webpage.