Horizontal: We used concluding observations of the UN CRPD Committee after its review of the EU, to flag to the European Parliament Rapporteur some important recommendations not appearing in her draft report on the second part of the Disability Strategy 2021-2030.
Employment: We continued our work on a note on the compatibility of disability benefits in cash with employment. We have started to collect comments from members on a draft note.
Inclusive design: European Commissioner Lahbib responded to the question for written reply by Finnish MEP Ohisalo on accessibility of household appliances – directly inspired by us. Indirectly, the response informs us why aiming for a review of the European Accessibility Act is not the solution and why our future campaign should essentially be an awareness-raising campaign targeting manufacturers and standardisation bodies.
Antoine Fobe was interviewed by BBC's Radio 4’s In Touch programme about the EEA soon coming into effect and its impact on consumers in the UK.
We have asked for internal concertation within Accessibility WG for input in CEN JTC12 on new European standard on non-digital information - braille requirements (in consultation with ANEC).
We invited the members of the Mobility Working Group to participate in two surveys on more accessible Airbus aircraft cabins.
The Accessibility Working Group was called to react at national level regarding the updating of the European standard EN 16584-1 on railway applications for the use of persons with reduced mobility (colour contrast provisions are poor and not in line with ISO 21542 and TR 17621). This EN is referred inside the TSI-PRM Regulation (EU law on rail accessibility) which makes some of its part de facto mandatory.
The European Railway Agency and the European Disability Forum solicited us to take a survey on the accessibility of platform/train interface, in the context of the revision of the PRM TSI regulation (minimum accessibility standards for train vehicles and train stations). This was forwarded to the Advocacy Committee and to the Mobility Working Group.
We were invited to targeted consultation by way of survey on EU harmonised waste sorting labels as part of the packaging and packaging waste regulation (follow-up to 2024 direct stakeholder consultation), but the survey turned out to be targeted at economic operators, not consumers or representatives. However, it is good to see from the survey’s content that our "no all-digital solution" and "mind the colour contrast" messages appear to have been taken on board.
Other: We responded to a European Commission public consultation on the Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and essentially used it to stress the shortcomings of the EU AI Act, in support of the EDF position.