The European Independent Living Day, celebrated on 5 May, is an annual event to raise awareness about the right to Independent Living and its importance for disabled people. It was launched by the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) in 2014.
The XoSoft team wishes all the best to everyone who is celebrating today and raising awareness for the right to live independently. We hope that XoSoft’s soft exoskeleton will help enable people with disabilities in the future to gain further independence .
What is Independent Living?
ENIL defines Independent Living as the daily demonstration of human rights-based disability policies. Independent living is possible through the combination of various environmental and individual factors that allow disabled people to have control over their own lives. This includes the opportunity to make real choices and decisions regarding where to live, with whom to live and how to live. Services must be available, accessible to all and provided on the basis of equal opportunity, free and informed consent and allowing disabled people flexibility in our daily life. Independent living requires that the built environment, transport and information are accessible, that there is availability of technical aids, access to personal assistance and/or community-based services. It is necessary to point out that independent living is for all disabled persons, regardless of the gender, age and the level of their support needs.