The European Union's "European Disability Strategy" that covers the period from 2010 to 2020 includes the European Accessibility Act which states that persons with disabilities have the right to participate fully and equally in society and economy. Denial of equal opportunities is a breach of human rights as a way to ensure that people with disabilities are granted equal access to goods and services.

By renewing the commitment to generate a barrier-free Europe, EU focuses on 8 priority areas that are accessibility, participation, equality, employment, education and training, social protection, health and external actions.

Another example of the progress that is being made to ensure equal rights for deaf citizens within the EU is the so-called Brussels Declaration on Sign Languages in the European Union. The declaration is centered on the idea that it is a right of individuals to learn and use sign language and, thus, supporters of this declaration argue that member states need to recognise the national sign language as an equal alternative to the spoken word.

The project aims to contribute to the acquisition of equality in public and private life for deaf people, to ensure they can become full citizens by using all the opportunities that other citizens can use, to recognise the right to use an indigenous sign language, to empower them through communication and information, and to promote equality in education and employment.

Project aims to:

• create awareness in public as to the needs and rights of the deaf community,
• make the public aware that sign languages are "languages" that facilitate communication,
• promote the use of sign languages as a foreign language to be learnt by the general public since friends and family of the deaf community need to learn a sign language to be able to communicate with the deaf individuals,
• train individuals that provide services to the deaf community such as public officials in health, security, teaching etc,
• promote equality in education, training, social life and employment for deaf people by teaching sign languages to and raising awareness in service providers such as teachers,
• empower the deaf community,
• make the deaf community more independent.