The Dutch Council of the Chronically Ill and the Disabled

The Dutch Council of the Chronically ill and the Disabled is an umbrella organization, consisting of associations of people with a chronic illness or a disability. The activities are focussed on the realisation of a society which enables people with a disability or a chronic illness to participate as valuable citizens, based on equal rights, equality of chances and equality of obligations. Two of the main tasks of the organization are the promotion of the interests of the member-organizations and offering them support.

The activities of the organization are concentrated in the Utrecht' offices, where about ninety people are working. More than twenty-five percent of them has a chronic illness or a disability. The outlines for policy-making are defined by policy-groups, including representatives of the member organizations. The General Assembly is the highest policy-making institution in the Dutch Council of the Chronically ill

Member-organizations
The Dutch Council of the Chronically ill and the Disabled includes more than 160 organizations. The member-organizations are primarely national associations of (parents of) people with a chronic illness or a disability. For instance people with a muscular disease, asthmatics, partially sighted people and parents of deaf children, they all are a part of the organization through their membership of one of the affiliated organizations. Besides a number of regional, departmental and local organizations is affiliated to the Dutch Council of the Chronically ill and the Disabled.

Numbers
All together the member-organizations comprise a number of more than 300.000 members. The Dutch Council of the Chronically ill and the Disabled works for those people and defends the rights of all people with a chronic illness or a disability in the Netherlands, this means the rights of about two millions of Dutch citizens.