Another quirk of freelancing

‘Nothing about us, without us’ was a leitmotif running through an event I covered to celebrate the European Day of Persons with Disabilities (EDPD) late last year.

I was asked to attend the two-day event and write up the report in the weeks that followed. I submitted the final text and then, with everything happening around Covid-19, I completely forgot to check out the final publication online. It wasn’t the only thing that fell off my radar.

This is an unfortunate quirk of freelancing. You’re often a bit player in a larger project or too busy and distracted to follow up and see how it turned out. Many clients send links to the final publication or some useful feedback on your work, which is great. But they’re busy as well, so it is really up to the freelancer to remind them!

In this case, I was reminded about the publication because the client asked me to block some days in December to cover this year’s digital version of EDPD. I went back to the original event page and found the final report, which I was pleased to discover had been professionally rendered by the European Commission’s Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion team, also taking into consideration many of my layout suggestions. You can download it here in the ‘Related documents’ section.

[Image: courtesy of the European Day of Persons with Disability Report, 2020]

Reading back through the report, the phrase ‘Nothing about us, without us’ really stood out. Cited by several speakers at the event, including the European Commission’s Joost Korte, who opened the event, it is an enduring symbol of what the EDPD seeks to achieve. It is also the title of a manifesto published by one the event’s co-hosts, the European Disability Forum.

In what has been a challenging time for everyone, I imagine the next edition will shed some light on how the pandemic is affecting Europeans with disabilities, in particular, and on other developments during this milestone year, including progress towards a replacement for the European Disability Strategy that's set to expire in the coming months.