Given the honour of the position I currently hold as President of the Coordinating Federation for People with Physical Disabilities in Biscay (FEKOOR), I would like to highlight the importance of the issues that are going to be dealt with in the 1st Conference of People with Physical Disabilities that will take place in Bilbao on the 24th - 26th May: ''Active Citizenship and Quality of Life''.

This meeting will show the importance of the social movement of people with disabilities in Europe that we have been carrying out, the need for our voice to be continued to be heard in the 21st century and the relevance of our work in maintaining a smooth communications network in this global village.

We will talk about Equal Opportunities as the route towards recognising our human and citizenship rights and we will debate how to best achieve this.

We will also broach the subject of the application of Universal Accessibility in all areas of human activity as the basic strategic way to achieve this.

We will talk about access to the labour market as a parameter to evaluate the amount of normalisation of our society. As a sign of human progress and whether it is sustainable. We will analyse the weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities for development.

We will offer a ray of hope to women with disabilities by assuring them that we will be seen, by spreading a feeling of sisterhood and openly debating the issues of double discrimination, violence and the tools available to us.

We will talk about the methodologies for the evaluation and care of dependency. We will compare current alternatives and present challenges of personal autonomy and independent living.

We will also reflect on a highly topical subject on both a social and academic level: the clinical application of the new research technologies into stem cells, the ethical reaction and the rights we have with respect to the advances in the knowledge of the human genome and control over hereditary expression.

We will be joined by distinguished public figures and professionals, people who we give due recognition to and sincerely thank them for their efforts and solidarity. However, the success of this Conference is down to you, colleagues, professionals working in public and private organisations, professional bodies, teachers, students, voluntary workers, representatives of NGO´s, political and trade union representatives, local, autonomous and national authorities.

Because of this, I invite you to join us at our Conference, your Conference.

Yours sincerely,