The rights of people with disabilities are human rights
Switzerland does have a Disability Equality Act and has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). However, these basic human rights are being implemented extremely slowly or not at all.
- The inclusion initiative calls on the Confederation and cantons to take measures to ensure the legal and actual equality of people with disabilities in all areas of life.
Self-determined participation
People with disabilities want what many people without disabilities take for granted: to be able to decide where and with whom they live, educate and train themselves, work or even use public transport independently.
- Today, people with disabilities are too often forgotten: The initiative calls for a paradigm shift: all people should be able to participate in society and have a say. Inclusion concerns us all.
Free choice of place and form of residence
In Switzerland, around 150,000 people with disabilities live in an institution. As a result, there is often a lack of funds to finance support in self-determined forms of living. This is despite the fact that these forms of housing are often more cost-effective for society! In addition, there is often a lack of sufficiently affordable and barrier-free housing. Due to a lack of alternatives, people with disabilities are often forced to live in an institution.
- The inclusion initiative calls for people with disabilities to be able to freely choose their form of housing and their place of residence.
Ensure necessary assistance
The inclusion initiative aims to give people with disabilities the resources they need to participate in society, politics, business and culture in a self-determined way with the help of assistance services.
- The current assistance services are not sufficient. The inclusion initiative calls for more assistance so that people with disabilities can fully participate in social life.
Sponsorship
The inclusion initiative is backed by a non-partisan, broad-based initiative committee, a citizens’ committee with over 1,000 supporters and a supporting organisation consisting of: AGILE.CH, Amnesty International Switzerland, Inclusion Handicap, Stiftung für direkte Demokratie und Tatkraft.
Special regulations for people with writing disabilities
Exception to the registration of voters who are unable to write: they (blind people, quadriplegics, people with temporary hand injuries, etc.) sign a referendum or a popular initiative by having their own surname and first name, their exact date of birth and their home address entered in the signature list by a person of their choice who is authorised to vote; this auxiliary person enters their own name in block capitals in the column “Signature” together with the addition “on behalf of” and also adds their own handwritten signature there.
