An autumn conference was organized by European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), and the DAT representative participated in the conference, the DAT Public Relations and International Affairs announced.
EASPD and its partners, Cope Foundation and the European Network for Cultural Centres (ENCC) co-hosted the international online conference: The Art of Inclusion - Disability and Diversity in Arts and Culture.
EASPD is located in the political capital of Brussels and is run by a group of professional staff. EASPD believes that support services play an important role in empowering people with disabilities to enjoy equal rights, and this belief guides their work in Brussels and Strasbourg across Europe.
The webinar was held on October 14 and 15 and included six workshop panels on art and disability. Masoume Amedi, Director of International Relations of Disability Association of Tavana, participated in this webinar as a representative.
Expressing satisfaction with the holding of such webinars, which deal with the empowerment and inclusion of people with disabilities in accordance with the convention, Amedi said: The Tavana Association has been in contact with the EASPD since 2013, and in 2013 participated in the Employment Conference for Persons with Disabilities organized by the Union. This fall, the union hosted a conference on "Disability and Diversity in Arts and Culture," and Professor Gerard Quinn spoke at the conference, answering questions from the audience. More than 400 participants attended the webinar.
Professor Gerard Quinn appointed as the new UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Gerard Quinn is Professor Emeritus in law at the National University of Ireland (Galway).  He holds degrees in political science (B.A.) and law (LL.B.) from the National University, is a qualified barrister-at-law (B.L., Kings’ Inns) and a graduate of Harvard Law School (LL.M., S.J.D.).
"The webinar was managed around lectures by several experts and artists, and in addition to good time management, the content was very well organized and presented," Amedi said. "The audience shared their questions with the speakers through the question and answer box, and the experts answered the questions at specific times.”
Experts in the field of disability and artists with disabilities considered art as a tool for the social presence of people with disabilities and called on artists with disabilities to be more present in society through art and to show their abilities to the public in a beautiful way.
The director of international relations of the Tavana Association said: What can do the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for art? was the subject of a webinar.
The webinar began with a welcome address by EASPD President Jim Crow from Belgium, Sean Abbott, President of the Cope Foundation from Ireland, and Ivo Peeters, ENCC Board of Directors from Belgium.
Jim Crow: I saw one definition of inclusion and it said inclusion is about being included within either a group or in society as a whole. What is special about the arts in helping with inclusion? I read that really what the arts is great at doing is allowing diversity and variability of outcomes. Whatever we do that is of an artistic nature is not there to be criticized. 
Professor Gerard Quinn, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, praised the event as being ‘one of the first of its kind’ to address the real inclusion of persons with disabilities in the artistic and cultural sphere. With the conference taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic Professor Quinn stressed the need for an inclusive recovery to build more inclusive societies, identifying opportunities for full self-expression and equal access to arts and culture as crucial pillars to achieve this.   
Equal access to culture should enable the ability to have personal self-expression, full access to existing culture as well as equal opportunities to produce culture. Importantly, art and culture should not just be viewed as form of therapy or recreation for persons with disabilities, but also as a professional practice in which they can drive the direction of mainstream culture.
Amedi continued: The webinar was held in five parts or a two-hour episode over two days. Ian Nash, Chairman of the EASPD Assembly from Cork, Ireland, hosted the webinar. He screened a short film about the sights of Cork. The Cope Foundation produced six short films from Cork for a two-day webinar.
"The ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the definition of a framework for Europe and the protection of the concept of equality of persons with disabilities and its applicability, as well as the perspectives of artists, researchers, producers and service providers, were other topics discussed at the webinar.” The director of international relations of the Tavana Association said.
Looking at the role of policymakers in promoting inclusive arts and culture, Ben Evans, the Council of Europe's Regional Director for Arts and Disability, called for a cultural policy aimed at eliminating the cultural deprivation of people with disabilities.

"Europe's disability strategy will increase the inclusion of people with disabilities in cultural life in the future," at the end, Amedi added. "This strategy will support the work of service providers, who often play a key role in facilitating people with disabilities access to art and culture.”