International Day of Persons with Disabilities
"Accessibility is the key to an inclusive society"
High acceptance levels for people with disabilities contrast with everyday discrimination. In this interview, VdK President Verena Bentele discusses the "not-in-my-backyard effect," new ways to promote social solidarity, and how people with disabilities can reach leadership positions.
82The acceptance of the "disability" dimension achieved out of 100 points in the current Diversity Barometer of the Robert Bosch Foundation.
The Diversity Barometer of the Robert Bosch Foundation shows: Social acceptance of people with disabilities has remained consistently high for years. Nevertheless, one in four inquiries to the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency concerns discrimination based on disability. How do you explain this contradiction?
Verena Bentele: The overall good and stable acceptance values in the disability dimension certainly have much to do with a paradigm shift brought about by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-CRPD). Social awareness of people with disabilities has increased.
In practice, however, things can look quite different when people with disabilities demand their rights and want to participate equally in life – as is natural for others.
The discrepancy can also be explained by the "not-in-my-backyard effect." This describes an attitude where people generally support certain social measures or projects but don't want to tolerate them in their own neighborhood or immediate environment. Socially, the participation of people with disabilities and their equal treatment is often fundamentally supported. However, when it comes to establishing housing, support, or care services locally for them, they encounter resistance in the immediate neighborhood. Many then suddenly don't want guests with disabilities in restaurants, don't want changes to their residential environment, don't want children with disabilities in their own children's school class, or don't want support so that someone can participate accessibly. Although many people fundamentally accept that people with disabilities need social support, they reject corresponding measures in their environment because they fear personal or social disadvantages.
As a result, many barriers remain in everyday life and discrimination persists. Acceptance at one level does not automatically result in respectful treatment and discrimination-free conditions in everyday life.
In public debates, groups that actually all need support are often pitted against each other – for example, poor people against people with disabilities. How can we prevent this from becoming competition? And what approaches promote solidarity?
Verena Bentele: A well-funded welfare state forms the foundation for ensuring that people are not pitted against each other, but that everyone benefits together from social justice. There needs to be awareness of common interests. Fair social policy benefits all socially disadvantaged groups and society as a whole. Poverty, disability, need for care, and other social risks belong together in focus; they are not competing problems. Promoting solidarity means understanding everyone's needs as a common task instead of pitting groups against each other.
Looking at the low and drastically declining acceptance values for the socioeconomic weakness dimension in the Diversity Barometer, these are a frightening example of disadvantaged groups being pitted against each other. From the VdK's perspective, politics must communicate their decisions comprehensibly to create trust and strengthen social cohesion. When people feel their concerns are taken seriously, their willingness to show solidarity increases.
We support the disability movement’s advocacy and power-building for dignity, self-determination, and self-representation of persons with disabilities.
The motto of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2025 is "Strengthening the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future." What is needed in Germany for people with disabilities to actually take on more leadership and decision-making positions? And can you give examples where this is already working well?
Verena Bentele: The motto emphasizes the importance of no longer viewing people with disabilities merely as objects of care, but understanding and empowering them as active agents and leaders in social processes. It is a call for genuine participation, to involve them in political decision-making processes and systematically remove barriers. Important prerequisites are accessible access to education, continuing education, and professional qualification so that people with disabilities can develop leadership skills.
It is known that companies that have established diversity and inclusion programs have a higher proportion of employees with disabilities in leadership positions. However, some German companies have restricted parts of their diversity and inclusion programs, discontinued them entirely, or distanced themselves from gender quotas in anticipatory compliance due to political developments in the US. I view these developments with concern. In Germany, people with disabilities are still underrepresented in leadership and decision-making positions, despite existing potential and willingness to take on such roles.
Prominent examples like former Federal Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble show that disability is not a barrier to the highest political offices. There are now several people with disabilities working in prominent positions in politics, business, the judiciary, or academia. These role models are crucial motivators and show what is possible.
Leadership with a disability is also possible in the VdK. With the right framework conditions, for example with an accessible work environment, the prerequisites are very good. People with disabilities actively engage in associations, self-advocacy organizations, and social policy and naturally also take on leadership functions.
"I found it particularly helpful when I could gain experience and learn about my potential on one hand, while also showing it to others on the other hand."
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Civil society plays a crucial role in inclusion. What specific action possibilities do you see for foundations, initiatives, companies, and every individual to promote genuine participation of people with disabilities in everyday life? Which projects or initiatives have you personally experienced as particularly effective?
Verena Bentele: Foundations can support projects so that they are fundamentally accessible and inclusive and that people with disabilities are considered from the beginning. There are many interesting educational and cultural projects that only confront the question of whether accessible participation is possible when a person with disability registers. Then it's about whether the location is architecturally accessible or whether sign language interpretation is included in the budget.
For associations and initiatives, it's important that they create accessibility within their own organization, but also that they inform and sensitize the public about equal opportunities and inclusion. Companies should definitely make a conscious decision to introduce and implement binding diversity and inclusion concepts.
But every individual can also contribute by dealing consciously and without discrimination in language and behavior. Everyone can advocate for accessibility in private and public spaces in everyday life, even as a non-disabled person.
Since appeals to goodwill are not sufficient, legal obligations are ultimately needed. The VdK has therefore been advocating for many years that private providers of goods and services should also be obligated to create accessibility, or at least in a first step to make reasonable accommodations in individual cases. Accessibility is the key to an inclusive society.
I found it particularly helpful when I could gain experience and learn about my potential on one hand, while also showing it to others on the other hand. In the first judo club where I trained many years ago as an eight-year-old with sighted and blind children, there was no inclusion concept. But there were brave and curious people who just got started and learned together. Together we practiced throws and put away the mats at the end of training. In retrospect, it was precisely this matter-of-factness that made this training group so special.