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Developing the bigger picture
Rapporteurs: Prof Linda Ward and Dr Ruth Townsley (University of
Bristol)
As a result of ANED's 2008 work programme, practical support for
independent living was identified as a key topic for review in 2009. Independent
living has been a key concern for the disabled people's movement, alongside
concern about progress in European countries in moving away from institutional
care provision towards effective support for community living. Many of the most
innovative policy models (including personal assistance schemes, personal
budgets, peer support and Centres for Independent Living) have been pioneered
within that movement.
During 2009, ANED reviewed and evaluated national policy developments in
comparative perspective, to understand the state-of-the-art, and to learn
lessons from good practice. The synthesis
report outlines the research and policy context but its main purpose is to
show where, and to what extent, the practice matches up to the independent
living philosophy.
The published report addresses the following issues:
-
policy
context (the extent to which states are including options for
independent
living for all disabled people within the mainstream of provision for
social
services, social security or long-term social care etc.)
-
existing
legal framework on legal capacity of persons with disabilities (and the
extent
to which disabled people are acknowledged as having the potential for
independence, choice and control in their lives in national policies
and
strategies)
-
segregation
and inclusion (the extent to which national policies rely on segregated
or
institutional provision of support for disabled people) Progress
towards
transforming and reforming institutional care towards independent
living.
Description of the process and safeguards. To be complemented with
figures that
illustrates the dimension of the issue.
-
types
of support (examples of the kinds of support available to disabled
people in
their everyday lives, including the availability of personal budgets
and
personal assistance and the situation of professional and family carers
,
centres for independent living, support services, etc.)
-
gate
keeping and assessment (e.g. who decides on eligibility for support of
this
kind?, barriers to choice or resources arising from assessments of
competence
or legal capacity, etc)
-
economic
evidence, where available (e.g. examples of any research evidence or
policy
arguments about the cost-benefits of independent living options for
disabled
people, for providers, or for governments)
-
specific
reference to other equality dimensions should be included wherever
possible
(e.g. any evidence of differences in the treatment of disabled women
and men,
people with different kinds of impairments, ethnicities, particular
reference
to the situation of disabled children and older people would be
helpful, etc.)
-
examples
of good practice (including, specifically, the role of disabled people
as
employers, managers and providers of support services)
-
identification
of quality control and quality assurance issues.
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