The year 2003 was designated the European Year of People with Disabilities (EYPD) by the European Commission. It is sometimes called the European Year of Disabled People.
The European Commission set aside 12 million euros to recognise the European Year of People with Disabilities.
The Year was officially launched under the Greek Presidency in Athens on 26 January 2003. The opening ceremony in Athens was co-hosted by Julie Fernandez.
Famous quotes containing the words european, year, people and/or disabilities:
“We say that slavery has vanished from European civilization, but this is not true. Slavery still exists, but now it applies only to women and its name is prostitution.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“God once spoke to people by name.
The sun once imparted its flame.
One impulse persists as our breath;
The other persists as our faith.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The more I read and the more I talked to other parents of children with disabilities and normal children, the more I found that feelings and emotions about children are very much the same in all families. The accident of illness or disability serves only to intensify feelings and emotions, not to change them.”
—Judith Weatherly (20th century)