"The European Pillar of Social Rights has defined education, training and lifelong learning as the first priority for equal opportunities and access to the labour market. The phrasing of this priority: ""Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market"" shows that the European Union is considering education and lifelong learning in a holistic way, putting skills, competences and knowledge in the centre. The main emphasis of all education policy efforts in the European Union have been along the axis of inclusion. The inclusion of people with disabilities is, at the same time, a legal requirement as the EU as well as its Member States have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). The right, responsibilities and duties of parents as the legal guardians and primary educators of their children is defined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) that is also ratified by all EU Member States even though not the EU itself. The UNCRC and the CRPD also clearly define the duties of public actors in supporting the protection of rights as well as in catering for the needs of parents and guardians. The EU primarily has a disability policy in place that also emphasised the importance of inclusion. Some of the project partners have worked together on a previous project, ELPIDA that was chosen for the Zero Award 2020 as a unique approach supporting the parents of people with intellectual disabilities (PWID), especially of older children. There was a wish and urge to continue developing tools for parents, but also to support them in the inclusion of their children. Thus the focus of this project is still on parents as a primary target group, but also focuses on the needs of parents with smaller children. The European Disability Forum, in their praise for ELPIDA also called for more support for parents in a general context where disability programmes usually focus on independent living, leaving out the most important support network from financed innovation. For this to be achieved, we are especially targeting parents of children with intellectual disablitilies (ID), but for inclusion to become a reality the secondary target group is the general parent and professional educator/social worker community. What we are using as a baseline in this projectis the needs of parents of PWID, but also general needs of other groups that PWID are to be included into. This way, ouraim is to make parents conscious of the importance of inclusion regardless of their being the parent of a PWID or not. This, in turn, will then make institutions as well as other places important in the life of children more inclusive to make a move towards universal design throughout Europe. We see a very important role for professionals in it. Thus we are also aiming at offering them role models to better understand the otherness of PWID as well as the possibilities and advantaged of their inclusion in institutions, especially schools, for their lifelong inclusion in society.Thus the first aim of the project to establish a learning community of parents of PWID to help them overcome everyday challenges and for them to become warriors of social inclusion, and the second aim is to support the inclusiveness of institutions, especially of schools to create a strong base of societal inclusion of PWID, but also of people with other disabilities. Utilining the possibilities that the digital world can offer we are aiming at providing the information material via an e-platform to make it free and accessible to all, at any time and any place.This project aims at providing parents of children with visible and non-visible disabilities (inculding behavioural difficulties) the necessary skills and knowledge in order for them to be competent and confident to provide the right support and empowerment to their children. This will have a direct positive impact on people with disabilities and will lead to better transition to adulthood, social inclusion, and better quality of life in general."

Despite the progress of the last years, young people with disabilities still have the greatest difficulties in participating in social activities and access work. Faced with an educational system which, over the years, has been influenced by an ideology that favours classifications and competition among students, rather than cooperation and solidarity, equal opportunities in higher education (HE) are still in the process of being achieved. In the specific case of students with intellectual and developmental disorder (IDD), and although their inclusion in regular schools is already implemented, the opportunity for these students to accede to HE is still in the process of being achieved. It is, therefore, time to foster the transition of young people with IDD to HE and to employment, guaranteeing the opportunity to continue their socialization process, actively participating in the community, developing socio-professional skills together with their peers.Under this context, the most important expected impact of this project is the creation of a new scenario to open up the opportunities for people with IDD, both considering HE and the labour market. This population has the greatest difficulty in obtaining and maintaining a job, which has led to their social isolation. However, it is also evident that these young people, with the support of their families, intend to invest in their training to enter the labour market more easily, gaining their financial independence and increasing their social participation. The project HiLives aims, therefore, to create opportunities to share knowledge and practices in this field, towards the creation of a strategic partnership in the area of (i) inclusion of students with IDD in HE Institutions, and (ii) transition to an active and independent life, exploring the role that digital media can play in this process. HE is valued in our society and can lead to a meaningful career, new friendships and interests, as well as a rewarding life, and should be an opportunity for all students. The current digital tools are instruments that have potential in this field and can be seen as a resource to approach young people. HiLives - Including and Connecting in Higher Education: networking opportunities for independent lives - aims at developing the following Intellectual Outputs:- a transnational / European framework for the development of an inclusive, flexible and student-centered HE curriculum for young adults with IDD;- a prototype of a digital tool to connect and network opportunities, tackling gaps and mismatches between the expectations, skills and needs of young adults with IDD, and both the HE offer and the employment opportunities;- a Transnational / European good practice guide for HE Institutions, Secondary Schools and Employers, aiming to help young adults with IDD to access HE and start an independent life.This project will allow eight partners from four countries to cooperate, innovate and share experiences, knowledge and good practices under the purpose of networking opportunities for independent lives of young students with IDD in HE. Four of these partners are HE Institutions (University of Aveiro, Portugal; University of Ghent, Belgium; University of Salamanca, Spain; and University of Iceland, Iceland). The other four partners are Institutions and Associations that work directly with young adults with IDD and their families (ASSOL, Pais-em-Rede, FORMEM and AvisPT21).The results of the project will not only be the Intellectual Outputs, but also the skills and personal experiences that all project partners and participants in the activities will acquire. This important domain of knowledge and experience gained by the participants, learners and staff will certainly remain after the project timeline. There will also be increased skills in approaching the inclusion of IDD people and also in the development of a shared view on the European panorama regarding the inclusive nature of HE Institutions. HiLives’ activities and results can have a large potential impact both in people (students with IDD, their Families, Caregivers, Staff of HE Institutions, Teachers and Employers) and in organisations and systems (HE Institutions, Secondary schools, Associations and Institutions, Ministries of Education, and European policy-makers). Sharing practices and Innovating in the domain of the inclusion of citizens with IDD (in HE and in the labour market) can have, unquestionably, a high impact in society. This can benefit not only the primary target group of this project (students with IDD) but also the involved Partners and other participants and stakeholders (families, caregivers, schools, teachers, university staff, employers).