High-level conference on disability: Independent living in tomorrow’s Europe
The Danish EU Presidency hosted a high-level conference on disability with experts from the Member States, the EU, municipalities, regions, organisations and civil society representatives. Eurofound's Marie Hyland presented findings on independent living and social inclusion of persons with a disability.
6 November 2025 - 7 November 2025
Event background
Organised by the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, this high-level conference brought together experts and representatives from the Member States, the EU institutions, municipalities, regions, organisations and civil society. The participants discussed the different aspects of ensuring independent living for persons with disabilities across Europe. Marie Hyland, Research officer at Eurofound prepared a background paper on 'Paths towards independent living and social inclusion in Europe for people with a disability' for the conference, and delivered a presentation based on that paper.
12 November 2025
Eurofound participants
Marie Hyland
Research officerMarie Hyland joined Eurofound as a research officer in the Social Policies unit in 2023. Her research focuses on issues related to housing, the social implications of the green transition and the socioeconomic situations of vulnerable groups. Prior to joining Eurofound, Marie spent several years as an economist at the World Bank, where her research covered women’s employment and economic empowerment, private sector development and the economics of climate change. Marie holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College Dublin. During her PhD studies, she was a visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Maryland.
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4 February 2025
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A new European Disability Strategy was launched in 2021 with the aim of intensifying progress on ensuring the full participation of people with disabilities in society. The increase of EU policy focus on people with disabilities is timely: the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the challenges they faced in many spheres of their lives.
This policy brief explores the situation of Europeans with disabilities during the pandemic. Using data from the third round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, conducted in February–March 2021, it compares the situation of respondents with and without disabilities in four areas: access to healthcare, mental well-being, financial situation and optimism about the future. The analyses show that on all indicators the situation of people with disabilities was significantly worse.
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