The European Disability Card: one card instead of all the certificates

Anyone with a recognised disability knows the routine: to obtain a discount or free entry you often have to carry the certificate around, show it to a stranger at a counter and explain your condition out loud, with a queue behind you.

The European Disability Card exists to remove that step. The rule says so in precise words: showing the Card exempts the holder from having to produce other certificates attesting the disability.

One card, and that is all.

What it is for, and where

The Card identifies people with disabilities and gives access to services free of charge or at reduced cost in four areas:

• transport;
• culture;
• leisure;
• other benefits that help people assert their rights.

And it is valid throughout Italy and in other European Union countries. The Disability Card is a measure adopted on a voluntary basis by EU member states, within the European strategic objectives on disability: the stated purpose is to contribute to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the social life of their communities.

The concessions do not appear by themselves: they are activated through agreements and conventions between the Office for policies on disability at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the bodies, public or private, that provide the services.

Which is why one more thing is worth knowing: the list of active conventions is published on the website of the Minister for Disabilities, on the page Dove utilizzarla («Where to use it»). That is where you see, kept up to date, what the Card actually gives you — museum by museum, transport operator by transport operator. Worth checking before you set out, rather than at the counter.

Who is entitled

The Card is issued to people in a condition of medium or severe disability or non-self-sufficiency, in the categories set out in annex 3 of prime ministerial decree 159 of 5 December 2013. In practice, applications may be made by:

• adult civil invalids with certified invalidity of 67 % or more;
• civil invalids who are minors;
• people receiving the attendance allowance;
• people holding certification under article 3, paragraph 3, of law 104 of 1992;
• civil blind people;
• civil deaf people;
• invalids and incapacitated persons under law 222 of 1984;
• workplace invalids with certified invalidity above 35 %;
• workplace invalids entitled to the allowance for personal and continuous assistance or with impairment of psychophysical integrity;
• those unfit for their duties and other incapacitated persons under the relevant laws;
• recipients of ordinary and war privilege treatments.

Two things to note. First: INPS checks the requirements itself, from the data already in its archives — you do not have to prove to it what it recognised in the first place.

Second, and it concerns readers of this site: the criterion is the recognition you hold in Italy, not citizenship. If you live here and hold an Italian certificate, you can apply.

How to apply

The application is made online on the INPS website, or through one of these representative associations: ANMIC, UICI, ENS, ANFFAS.

That second route matters and is rarely mentioned: if the online form is an obstacle — and for many people it is, all the more so when Italian is not your first language — you are not obliged to manage alone.

The Card is free: you pay nothing for the application and nothing for the card itself. If someone asks you for money to obtain it, they are not INPS.

A passport-style photo must be attached, following the parameters set out in the application form.

Three cases where something more is needed

• if the disability was attested by paper certificates dated before 2010, or by certificates issued by the Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Valle d'Aosta, Trento and Bolzano, those certificates must be attached, with a declaration of conformity with the original;
• if the status was recognised by a court judgment or a decree following litigation, the application must state the court and the date the order was issued;
• in every other case nothing about the certificates need be attached: INPS handles it.

How long it takes, and how it arrives

The procedure must be completed within 60 days of the application being submitted with all mandatory data.

The Card is produced by the State Mint and Printing Works — the same body that prints identity documents — and sent by Poste Italiane to your registered address, or to another address you give.

What is written on it

The card carries four things only:

• the holder's photograph;
• name, surname and date of birth;
• the document's number and expiry date;
• a QR code;
• where applicable, the letter «A».

That «A» is not a graphic flourish: it attests the need for an accompanying person or an assistance animal. Where the convention provides for it, that is the line extending the concession to whoever comes with you — and getting the dog in where dogs normally do not go.

If you are entitled to it and it is not on your Card, it is worth asking why: it is not a cosmetic detail, it is part of the entitlement.

Beware of an easy misunderstanding. The Card carries a photograph, but it is not an identity document and replaces none. It does not identify you at a bank, at the Questura, at a polling station or during a police check: for those you need your identity card, passport or residence permit. The Card proves that you are entitled to concessions, and nothing else.

The diagnosis is not there. Whoever looks at the Card sees that you are entitled, not what you have — and that is the difference that counts when you show it to a cashier with a queue behind you.

The QR code is for whoever provides the service: with a reader and your tax code they access the INPS online verification service, including from a phone, to check the information on the invalidity status. It is right to know this: the data is not printed on the card, but the check goes through it — and that is what makes the Card usable without carrying other papers.

One last, simple rule: the Card may be used only by its holder and cannot be lent to anyone.

How long it lasts

It is valid as long as the recognised disability lasts, and in any case no more than ten years from issue.

If you lose it or it is stolen

There is a set procedure, and it is worth knowing before you need it:

1. report it to the authorities;
2. go to your local INPS office with a copy of the report;
3. the officer cancels the lost or stolen Card;
4. after cancellation you can submit a new application.

It is on your phone too

Once you have the card you can activate the digital version in the IO app, in the wallet section: it is one of the three documents the Italian digital wallet already carries, alongside the driving licence and the health card. We wrote about it here: the documents moving into the IO app.

Both the application and the app need a digital identity: if you have none, the simplest route runs through the identity card you already hold — how to use the CIE to log into public sites.

Already applied, or been told you are not entitled? Tell us in the Health and school section of the community: knowing which concessions actually work, and where, is information built together.