Equality of opportunity for people with disabilities

The committee (chairman: Mr Stephen HUGHES (PSE, UK)) adopted a draft report by Mrs Barbara SCHMIDBAUER (PSE, D) on the Commission's communication on equal opportunities for disabled people. While approving the proposal, the Committee on Employment stated that it was deeply concerned by the absence of any new disability programme and it therefore called on the Commission to present a new action programme after the evaluation of HELIOS II. With no follow-up, the cooperation structures implemented ran the risk of disappearing. The Committee on Employment emphasized the importance of new information technologies to the employment and social integration of disabled people and called on the Commission to ensure that they were accessible to disabled persons.�