Initiative calls for real equality for people with disabilities

The initiative committee has until October 25, 2024 to collect 100,000 signatures. © Keystone / Anthony Anex

Civil society groups have launched the “inclusion initiative” to remove obstacles for people with disabilities so they can freely choose where they work and live.

“Effective equality is needed now,” said Daniela Enzler of Amnesty International Switzerland at a media conference on Thursday, announcing the launch of the popular initiative – “For the Equality of People with Disabilities (Inclusion Initiative)”.

+ Government orders review of Disability Equality Act

According to the authors, the initiative seeks what people without disabilities take for granted: to decide how to shape their own lives. This is only possible, they say, by enshrining in the constitution adaptation measures that remove barriers.

Today the Federal Constitution states that “the law shall provide for measures to eliminate disadvantages of people with disabilities”. The initiators would like to delete this paragraph under Article 8 on equal rights and instead insert a new paragraph that reads: “People with disabilities are entitled, within the bounds of proportionality, to the support and adaptation measures required to achieve this, in particular through personal and technical assistance.”

Adaptation measures such as wheelchair-accessible walkways would enable people with disabilities to freely choose where they live and work, and how they live their lives.

Several organisations are behind the initiative including Agile.ch, Amnesty International Switzerland, Inclusion Handicap, Foundation for Direct Democracy and Tatkraft. The initiative committee has until October 25, 2024, to collect 100,000 signatures.