Is it a hub? Is it a sub? It may be a club.

Hey.

Milan Šveřepa here, writing a week after Europe in Action conference in Glasgow, where some of you came to a session about Deinstitutionalisation guidance and practice.

The point of the session was to introduce publicly a joint effort of Inclusion International and Inclusion Europe to - accelerate deinstitutionalisation.

If you read this, you know what's coming next:

• There are painfully many people with intellectual disabilities in institutions across the world. (At least 760,000 in large institutions in Europe.)
• Deinstitutionalisation efforts are painfully slow, and often ineffective.

I'll spare you the details, but essentially we decided it would be useful, while we continue with loud and unequivocal advocacy to end segregation of people with intellectual disabilities, to try and add something different. Something that would allow to connect people who have done things and may have some answers with people who are doing (or supposed to do) things and often have questions.

We are, in essence, creating a community of those interested in doing deinstitutionalisation for people with intellectual disabilities.

A space where people who share a goal can come together to exchange, learn, and solve issues they encounter along the way.

We acknowledge there are many complex issues associated with this work, and we'll get to them too.

In this space, we want to focus our attention: Here, deinstitutionalisation means helping people with intellectual disabilities to establish a new life, and closing down the institutions in which they were placed.

It follows these steps:

1. Stop putting people in “care” institutions immediately.
2. Make disability support available to everyone who needs it.
3. Have a clear strategy. Learn from what you (and others) are doing.
4. Move people from harmful places and help them to set up a new life.
5. Find a new home for the person moving out of an institution.
6. Support the person to establish a new life.
7. Close the institution. Redirect its money to disability support.

"Doing DI" is about cultivating a can-do approach to deinstitutionalisation. About connecting people who ask about issues with people and resources that can help resolve them.

It won't be one thing, such as this website. It will be many different things, channels, meeting, conferences.

It will be about bringing up all kinds of deinstitutionalisation practice from around the world to learn from it, and perhaps to improve it.

We are not exactly clear what this'll be, but if you are curious and willing to help us find out - subscribe and enjoy!