We are a Disabled People’s Organisation (DOP) and have been working in the tradition of the International Independent Living Movement for the civil rights of persons with disabilities in our society since 1994. We provide services, such as personal assistance and peer counselling, and advocate against discrimination and political marginalisation. We have three centres – located in Innsbruck, Schwaz and Lienz – and operate all over Tyrol. Currently, we are the largest provider of personal assistance in Austria.
We do not focus on the individual’s “deficit” as a person with disabilities but the existing social, structural, and legal barriers which segregate and force persons with disabilities into special schools and nursing homes. Stigmatisation is happening because people are treated as “disabled people” and therefore are being reduced to this status.
Disability must always be seen in the context of its political and social circumstances. It is a problem of an unequal balance of power.
von Matthias Aull