«I'm a human rights defender.» That's how Giampiero Griffo introduces himself. Active in disability advocacy since 1972, he was struck by polio at one year old—back when there were no vaccines. He worked as a librarian at the National Library in Naples and is now retired, though retirement for him is something of a misnomer. «I work to advance and promote the human rights of people with disabilities in various national and international contexts.» Member of the world council of Disabled People's International, the board of the European Disability Forum (EDF), the Italian Federation for the Overcoming of Handicap, and the economic and social committee led by Vincenzo Colao, Griffo chairs the Italian Disability and Development Network and coordinates the Technical-Scientific Committee of the National Observatory on the Condition of People with Disabilities.
You were part of the Italian delegation that helped draft the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which became law in Italy in 2009.
The Convention's drafting process saw extraordinary participation from people with disabilities themselves. At its approval in New York, 140 state delegations and 800 leaders from the international disability movement were present. It establishes a new responsibility for states, public administrations, and private actors alike—a fundamental cultural shift from recognizing needs to recognizing rights. And protecting those rights is first and foremost a cultural and political task. Article 3 of the Convention doesn't speak of disease, disability, or incapacity. It speaks of dignity, autonomy, independence, and equal opportunity. The cultural transformation is enormous: we are not merely recipients of healthcare and social services. We are workers, tourists, travelers, students—entitled to all general policies that affect any citizen.
What model of disability does it assume?
The Convention is built on the social model of disability, opposed to the medical or individual model. A model grounded in human rights: people with disabilities are citizens like everyone else, yet we face discrimination and are denied countless opportunities. And that's not because of our conditions—it's because society has disabled us. States must therefore provide appropriate responses in terms of access to rights, goods, and services. My responsibility is to coordinate the National Observatory's Technical-Scientific Committee so that the Convention is applied in Italy through legislative, policy, and technical proposals that promote and support rights. And we must always remember: change happens not just through the political and social work of advocacy groups, but through the actions of each person. Only that way can we transform behavior and overturn the negative cultural and social views about disability.
You serve on the European Disability Forum.
Made up of more than 30 national disability councils and around 40 European organizations, it brings together expertise and experience that make it a credible and reliable voice. It represents nearly 100 million Europeans with disabilities to the European institutions. Since its founding in 1997, the EDF has driven legislative initiatives across essential areas: accessibility in transport, new technologies, employment, public procurement, and international cooperation. The very EU structural funds now require that their use be tied to accessibility and social inclusion. What made the EDF capable of influencing European decisions was simple: all its member organizations spoke with one competent voice. Participation is a right, but it must be exercised with real knowledge.
How has welfare changed over the years?
Unfortunately, modern welfare was born in times of crisis—after the First World War, the 1929 crash, the Second World War. That gave rise to a protective welfare model in which people with disabilities must be taken care of by someone: operators, services, nonprofits. It's a model that failed even to protect during COVID-19. The deaths in facilities for older people and those with disabilities, the closure of services without home-based alternatives, the rigidity of social protection systems built around places and institutions rather than people, the idea of denying people with disabilities access to coronavirus treatment—all of this exposed the failure of existing policies. Yet the Convention speaks of inclusion.
What needs to happen?
Italian welfare, fragmented across 21 different regional systems, must shift toward personalized projects centered on people and their rights. Projects built on appropriate supports that allow people to participate in the opportunities society offers in the same ways other citizens do. That requires new objectives, different training for workers and policymakers, greater awareness among organizations that defend and promote rights. In short: people with disabilities must be included in general development policies. They must benefit from economic and social development like every other member of their communities. They must be able to direct their own lives and choose how and with whom to live.