A few days after his 45th birthday, the well-known self-advocate from Salzburg died on April 18, 2022 of a serious illness.

The path of education Erich Girlek led him through the special school and a sheltered workshop. He stood for change. From 2009, Erich Girlek got involved as a self-advocate and became an expert on his own behalf.

Was he self-advocate first within the life support it became more and more important to him over the years to build up an independent self-representation. He complemented his skills and completed a peer counselor training course, which he successfully completed in 2016.

In the last 10 years he has played a key role in the Austrian disability movement and has been active in a variety of ways.

Be it as head of the self-representation office in Salzburg, member of the management team of the independent self-representation network Austria, in the self-representation advisory board of Lebenshilfe Austria, advisory board member at knack:punkt – Self-determined life Salzburg and also in the federal monitoring committee.

On which targets it is carried out

He campaigned for the dismantling of special schools, demanded wages instead of pocket money, equal rights for people with learning difficulties and personal assistance for people with learning difficulties.

It was also always important to him that documents and communication in the working groups were easy to understand so that everyone could contribute. His concern was to advance the dismantling of barriers. As an example, he contributed to a summary of the current government program in easy-to-understand language.

“Anyone who says guardianship is good should rethink. She speaks more broadly about the UN Convention,” Erich Girlek stated and made a significant – and ultimately successful – contribution to the working group of the Ministry of Justice on the new Adult Protection Act.

In 2016 he received the Dr. Elisabeth Wundsam-Hartig Prize

In 2016 he received the Dr. Elisabeth Wundsam-Hartig Award for Outstanding Achievement. When the prize was handed over, I pointed out in the Introduction by Erich Girlek point out that he is one of the most important self-advocates in Austria.

Eric is missing

He was in great demand as an expert with learning difficulties, be it in the Salzburg state parliament or in the Ministry of Justice. Political participation was important to him, and he always stood up for it.

Even if it sounds like a truism: He leaves a big gap. He is missing in the powerful and persistent self-representation, he is missing as a lovable fighter for rights, he is missing as an optimistic person.