On the 15 of September, I was with my support person, Anca, to a conference for self-advocates in Warsaw, Poland.
The name of the conference was Inclusion to public life through self-advocacy.
The conference was organized by the Polish Association for People with Mental Handicap.
I represented EPSA and I spoke about the role of self-advocates in Europe.
150 self-advocates, parents and professionals working in the disability field attended the conference.
There were 3 workshops, where self-advocates and professionals spoke about their lives and their work.
I attended one workshop called How to support people with intellectual disabilities to become self-advocates.
I visited Warsaw and I walked through the old city center.
The second day, we visited one of the Polish Association for people with Mental Handicap centers.
We had a discussion about how we, people with intellectual disabilities, have to fight for our rights.
We visited three workshops, where people with intellectual disabilities worked.
The first workshop was carpentry, where people repair chairs and other pieces of furniture.
The second one was ceramics, where people mould several decorations.
The third one is media, where people film and register their colleagues’ performance.
I liked the way things are in Poland and the way the authorities are involved in helping people with intellectual disabilities.