Objectives

User and advocacy organisations of and for disabled people in many European countries have pointed out for many years, that large residential institutions for disabled people segregate their residents from the community and from normal social life.

Existing research on large residential institutions and de-institutionalisation focuses mainly on single European countries, without comparing institutional characteristics and quality of life between countries. This project provides the first research in this direction.

The objectives of this project were threefold:

• Collect quantitative information from as many residential institutions as possible;
• Determine the links between service characteristics and quality of life of the residents;
• Develop political recommendations at the European, national and local level.

Results 

The results of the project were disseminated in two printed forms:

• A White Book on de-institutionalisation printed in English, French, German, Polish, Romanian and Hungarian and containing the detailed policy recommendations and research results;

• 30.000 booklets in all EU languages countries to facilitate national de-institutionalisation campaigns.

A European conference was also organised at the end of the project to discuss the findings of the project with a wide range of national and European policy-makers.

For more information, please visit our website: www.inclusion-europe.org