Croatian Union of Physically Disabled Persons Associations (CUPDPA) is an independent, voluntary, nongovernmental, nonprofit organization. It was founded at the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in 1970, on the initiative of several physicians and patients with spinal impairments. CUPDPA operates on the national level as a union of associations. It provides informational, educational and technical support to its members on the local level in their efforts to protect the rights and improve the quality of life of persons with physical disabilities. CUPDPA assembles 71 local associations of disabled persons from almost all major cities in Croatia, with a total of 13,537 members. Although each local member association is independent, their joint activities through CUPDPA produce better results in protecting and furthering human rights of persons with physical disabilities as well as in systematic development of the civil society in Croatia. CUPDPA is intensively working on improving its networking organization. Its activities to the benefit of persons with physical disabilities have made CUPDPA recognizable in public and have contributed to its expansion – many new associations have applied for membership. Two sections initiated and developed within CUPDPA, the Mine Victims Section and the Section of Students with Disabilities, have now become autonomous associations.
A unique way of electronic communication with the members has been developed under the name CUPDPA-INFO; various information about competitions, vacancies and tenders, interesting features from the daily press, initiatives important for persons with disabilities are distributed by e-mail on a daily basis.
Since 1998 CUPDPA has been successfully working on a number of projects, among which:
O Tolerance towards persons with disabilities,
O National Database of Persons with Disabilities,
O Publishing the periodical “Our Day”,
O Training courses for chairpersons of disabled persons associations,
O Development of the mine victims section (now an autonomous association),
O Development of the students with disabilities section (now an autonomous association),
O Establishment of new associations in Knin, Otočac, Isle of Hvar, Labin, etc.
O Influence on the culture of living and modification of legal regulations,
O Architectural counselling centre "For the Quality of Life without Barriers",
O Drawing attention to the status of the most severe and destitute persons with disabilities,
O Charity action "Thank you, my good angel – Your contribution to our everyday life",
O Etiquette of communication with persons with disabilities – pocket book,
O Children’s picture-book „Etiquette or how to be friends with everybody“,
O All-Croatian campaign for observing the parking space for the disabled „Folks, this isn’t a joke“,
O Survey and analysis of accessibility of elementary schools in Croatia.
Other on-going major projects of CUPDPA, of which we are very proud, include helping students with disabilities by remodelling 19 rooms in the Students’ Hostel “Cvjetno naselje”, installing the first elevators in elementary schools, and others. CUPDPA successfully cooperates with the media and its activities have extensive media coverage. More detailed information about CUPDPA, its mission and activities can be found on the Web site www.hsuti.hr, which is edited by volunteers.
It is evident from the foregoing information that CUPDPA is recognized and influential in the community in the sphere of changing the public awareness of persons with disabilities. With its positive examples in the practice and by promoting the idea of good, it is open to a wide circle of collaborators and, along with the many associations of persons with disabilities, it maintains good relations with the rest of the civil sector. Further, its positive approach to governmental bodies and professional argumentation of the problems of persons with disabilities have earned it reputation and respect of competent ministries. CUPDPA’s president is a member of the Government Committee for Persons with Disabilities and of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights. During the many years of its active work, CUPDPA has received donations from the Embassies of Norway, USA, Japan and China, Wheelchair Foundation (USA), and a number of Croatian business organizations and firms. Also, without the special and extensive sponsorship of the Government and the funds allotted to it from the Croatian Lottery, CUPDPA would find it very hard to cover its overheads and keep the organization running.
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