Four years after receiving an Innovative Practice Award for our equality toolkit for schools, CSIE was honoured to be invited back to the next Zero Project Conference on the theme of Education. CSIE’s director Dr Artemi Sakellariadis was invited to contribute to an international panel on inclusive education. Called the “Couch Session”, because panellists sit on easy chairs and have a discussion, rather than being on stage making formal presentations, this was an opportunity to discuss what we mean by inclusive education, what barriers there are to achieving it and how these barriers may be overcome.

Michael Fembek, Director and Chief Executive of the Zero Project, moderated the discussion and fellow panellists were Albert Brandstätter, General Secretary of Lebenshilfe, Austria, and Nafissa Baboo, Director of Inclusive Education, Light for the World, South Africa. We are delighted that this session attracted very positive feedback from the 800-or-so delegates and that CSIE’s contribution generated a strong interest in our work and invitations to work with colleagues in a number of countries including Spain, Jordan and Brazil.

The Zero Project is an international organisation working towards a world with zero barriers, with a particular focus on disabled people’s rights. The Zero Project Conference takes place every year at the United Nations offices in Vienna, with a 4-year cycle on the themes of: Independent Living, Education, Employment and Accessibility.