Belgium: 1million 4 disability campaign a mixed success

On October 4th, in front of the European Parliament in Brussels on the Schuman Roundabout a rally took place in favour of the protection of disabled people' rights. The rally was to end a 9-month long campaign organized by the European Disability Forum that had the aim of collecting the signatures of one million European citizens that believed that rights of people with disabilities were not being fully respected. The campaign was very successful. Well over the targeted one million signatures was collected (1.232.880). During the rally, numerous boxes containing signed petitions were handed out to the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Parliaments and other EU institutions High Representatives. The rally, which was a set of various speeches and live music ended with the simultaneous release of thousands of balloons.

Unlike the campaign, however, the rally was a failure. There were a little over a thousand participants. Considering that all of the organizations involved in disability issues from across the whole of the European Union were invited to attend, along with all people with disabilities, this was not a big number. Perhaps signing a petition is much easier than making the effort to travel to Brussels. But a large group of people would impress EU representatives much more than boxes full of signatures.

It seems that a 9 month long campaigning effort was somehow lost. The rally was a failure because not only did it look like only a small group of people were actually engaged in the campaign, but also it seemed to demonstrate that this was so. As the cost of travelling to Brussels is not a real obstacle for many people in Belgium or France, why did they not show up at the rally? Maybe people thought that the others would do the job for them?

More info:
EU: Sign up for disability rights. Act today
Belgium: 1 million 4 disability
www.1million4disabilityrights.eu