countries - Austria

The information contained on this page was compiled in April 2009 by our country team. Contact:

Prof. Dr. Volker Schoenwiese
University of Innsbruck
Institute of Educational Sciences

Email: Volker.schoenwiese@uibk.ac.at
Web: webpage Volker Schoenwiese

The full text can be downloaded here.

The key national bodies with responsibility for disability law and policy implementation include:

The Attorneyship for Persons with Disabilities of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs and Consumer Protection is responsible for supporting people to enforce the federal law for equal rights for people with disabilities

Austria has ratified the United Nations Convention and the Optional Protocol.

Important national laws, policies and strategies concerning disabled people include:

Key features of the national system include (including adapted items from the MISSOC database December 2008):

Disability benefits

The Austrian system of social security is characterised by a mixture of centralised and decentralised elements, with social insurance based and universal benefits as well as employment issues at federal level.

Data on population indicate that:

In a 2007 microcensus survey, 20,5% of people living in private households in Austria reported a limiting illness or disability lasting for more than six months (20,8% female, 20,2% male).

There are no established networks for disability research in Austria but some initiatives at Universities that focus on certain disability issues:

The national organisation representing disabled people at the European level (European Disability Forum) is:

ÖAR - Österreichische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation (Austrian National Council of Disabled Persons) includes 78 partner organisations representing approximately 400,000 disabled people.

Useful sources of more detailed information about the situation of disabled people, and the policies and support available, include:

Homepage of Bizeps, Center for Independent Living in Vienna (German)

A summary of assistance to disabled people in the Austrian social system was published in English by the Federal Ministry of Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection (2005), although it is uncritical of the actual situation.