SKILLS Final Event

The SKILLS project held its Digital Skills for Independent Living workshop on 23 June 2025 in Porto. This final event of the project had 58 participants, 35 online and 23 in person, mostly Portuguese but also Spanish, Italian, Greek, French and Belgian, whose evaluation showed that the activity exceeded expectations, was very useful and the topics and knowledge acquired were very relevant. 56% said they would use the digital platform created by the project.

The event showcased the project’s inclusive model, with two people with disabilities at the round table who debated the opportunities and challenges in supporting independent living projects, including national perspectives – Ana Sofia Antunes (Secretary of State for Inclusion in the XXIII Constitutional Government), Ana Catarina Correia, representative of the Independent Living Movement, and also Joaquim Pequicho, Executive Director of Fenacerci and Confecoop, but also integrated a European vision with Milan Sverepa, Executive Director of Inclusion Europe.

The presentation of the results of the project, carried out by 7 partners from 5 countries (2 PT, 2 IT, 1 GR, 1 EES and 1 BE) included the digital platform created www.skills-project.eu which houses the training for professionals ‘Empowering Independence’, the training for people with disabilities ‘Towards Independence’, the policy recommendations and the project roadmap. The free materials available on the platform include module presentations, EBooks, national resources and videos, as well as information about the project, results and partners.

The training and materials were developed over 2.5 years in a co-production model that involved 12 project managers, 100 technicians, 160 people with disabilities and 204 professionals from the disability sector. In developing the products of this project we had 300 participants co-construct and validate the training for professionals in the rehabilitation sector, 200 people who co-operated in drafting the training for people with disabilities, 115 citizens who evaluated and made recommendations regarding the platform and 382 people who took part in the dissemination sessions and contributed to the policy recommendations.

The platform has had over 4000 views and almost 700 individual visitors from 25 countries and is available in 5 languages; English (EN), Portuguese (PT), Italian (IT), Spanish (ES) and Greek (GR). The training available for professionals and people with disabilities is structured into 5 modules: personal development, planning, networking, support activity and digital skills, organised into a 25-hour course for professionals and a 10-hour course for people with disabilities, with a focus on Independent Living, promoting the rights of people with disabilities and developing skills. These courses were tested with 18 professionals in Terni, Italy and with 41 people with disabilities in 4 countries: Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece.We would also like to highlight the 27 people with disabilities and 18 professionals who have produced 12 videos on autonomy, leisure and employment based on the use of digital systems.

In terms of policy recommendations, considering the diversity of legal frameworks and service models in the countries participating in the project, we propose a holistic and integrated model for promoting rights and Independent Living, adapted for professionals and people with disabilities, based on networking, improving infrastructures and advocacy campaigns, which generates genuine inclusion, autonomy and social participation. The need for action protocols, curriculum development and training on these topics that promote digital literacy, accessibility and inclusion is reinforced, from a development perspective that integrates people with disabilities, organisations and public authorities. In short, compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with a people-centred, holistic and integrated approach and community-based solutions that respond to the diversity of needs, interests and social, economic and political contexts.

The round table contributed to an in-depth reflection on Independent Living and the role of the digital component as a facilitator. Ana Sofia Antunes emphasised the dizzying evolution of technology, which is now ubiquitous, but which needs to be accessible from the moment it is conceived. She emphasised the personal assistance service, introduced in Portugal during her mandate, as a fundamental mechanism for encouraging the autonomy of people with disabilities, but which has to be articulated with the promotion of employment (quota law), with the increase in income and state support for people with disabilities and with total accessibility.

Milan Sverepa emphasised the need for effective inclusion both in the community and in decision-making skills. He framed Independent Living as having a place to live and make decisions, as well as being able to establish relationships (friends, family, work colleagues), and it is necessary to develop the skills of all people with disabilities, including those with severe support needs. He emphasised the importance of listening to and including people with disabilities and their families in the process of creating solutions and services to promote inclusion.

Ana Catarina Correia reflected on the impact of technology, communication and independent living, highlighting the reduced accessibility of people with disabilities as well as the need to complement these areas with access to the labour market, giving visibility to people with disabilities on social networks and ensuring supported decision-making, warning of the need for an intersectional perspective that takes into account contexts, gender, culture, politics and the economy. She highlighted the cultural stereotypes associated with people with disabilities, ranging from the ‘poor thing’ to the ‘hero’, as well as barrier factors such as paternalism and condescension and not allowing the right to make mistakes, a necessary process in autonomy. She recognised that personal assistance is not independent living, but it is a driving force that has given many people in Portugal access to their first job, their first show, volunteering, sport, etc. She concluded that all action on inclusion has to be based on a matrix of rights, on guaranteeing spaces for people with disabilities to have a voice and on the continuous development of organisations that have to work outwards, in the community.

Joaquim Pequicho highlighted the Skills project as a strategy for developing digital skills and using technology as a tool for independent living. He introduced the concept of hetero-autonomy, emphasising that it depends on external contexts and that distributive justice is needed to guarantee a technocracy that promotes inclusion through effective accessibility and skills development. He concluded that organisations are active partners in the process of autonomy and inclusion and that they are carrying out internal development processes to promote more universal access to rights, goods and services, but that more public investment is needed to multiply the effects on inclusion.

To summarise, the panel reiterated that digital solutions, the network of interpersonal relationships, services, income, legislation and funding are mechanisms for promoting inclusion that are essential for people with disabilities to assume their role as active citizens and participants in public life.