EDF ENIL Joint Collection of Good Practices on Independent Living

EDF – ENIL Joint collection of good practices on independent living

Introduction

This survey on good practices was initially disseminated by the European Disability Forum (EDF) in August 2016. Having gathered a limited number of practices, it was decided that EDF and the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) willrelaunch the survey at the beginning of this year, in order to be able to present more good examples of independent living practices in a joint publication. Those that responded to the initial survey in August do not have to complete it again.

Good practices collected through the surveybelow and the examples chosen have to be in line with Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and EDF position paper on Article 19.

The definition of ‘independent living’used in the survey is the one proposed by ENIL and adopted by EDF Board:

“Independent Living is the daily demonstration of human rights-based disability policies. Independent living is possible through the combination of various environmental and individual factors that allow persons with disabilities to have control over their own lives. This includes the opportunity to make real choices and decisions regarding where to live, with whom to live and how to live. Services must be available, accessible to all and provided on the basis of equal opportunity, free and informed consent and allowing persons with disabilities flexibility in our daily life. Independent living requires that the built environment, transport and information are accessible, that there is availability of technical aids, access to personal assistance and/or community-based services. It is necessary to point out that Independent living is for all persons with disabilities, regardless of the gender, age and the level of their support needs."

The survey aims togather good examples of:

1. National legislation, strategy and funding
2. Community and support services
3. Projects
4. Experiences

We would like to cover the following areas:

• childhood;
• transition to adulthood;
• housing;
• education;
• employment;
• transport;
• health care;
• leisure/sports;
• political participation;
• legal capacity;
• and funding, among other.

• There is not a word limit and the text box can be expanded to fit the length of the answer
• Not all questions have to be answered, however please specify why you are not answering a question (i.e. information not available)
• If available, please provide links to documents, reports or videos that can be consulted for further reference

Survey

General information

1. Name of the organisation

1. Name of at least one contact person in the organisation

1. Email address of the contact person

National legislation, strategy and funding

1. Does your country have national or regional lawspromoting deinstitutionalisation and independent living in line with Article 19 of the CRPD?

If yes, please specifythe content of these laws and whether they target a specific age and/or impairment group (i.e. children with disabilities, adults with intellectual disabilities, persons with psychosocial disabilities, etc…).

Please also specify whether such national or regional laws are also supported by other laws or policies in other fields (i.e. laws or policies in the fields of social security, equality and/or employmentthat are coherent with legislation promoting independent living).

1. Does your country have a strategy/action plan in place promoting deinstitutionalisation and independent living in line with Article 19 of the CRPD?

If yes, please specify, if possible:

• Target group (by age and/or impairment)
• Timeframe for implementation[1]
• Budget allocated to realise the strategy/action plan
• Mechanism monitoring its implementation
• Coherence between the strategy/action plan and other policies or laws (i.e. laws or policies in the fields of social security, equality and/or employment that are coherent with legislation promoting independent living).
• Involvement of disabled people’s organisations (DPO) in the design, development, implementation and monitoring of the strategy/action plan

1. Are you aware of a funding scheme promoting independent living?

If yes, please specify:

• The type of scheme (e.g. independent living fund, personal budget, social security, etc…)
• Its provider (local, national, European, public, private)
• Any challenge and/or barrier in accessing and using the funding scheme

Community and support services

1. Does your country have national or regional laws providingdifferent types of support services to persons with disabilities to live independently in the community in line with Article 19 of the CRPD?

If yes, please specify (if possible):

• The type of support service (i.e. personal assistance,personal budget, direct payment, support groups, peer support, habilitation and rehabilitation, mental-health services, etc…)
• The eligibility criteria to access the service (i.e. is service restricted to a certain age group, type of impairment, degree of impairment, income, place of residence, etc…?)
• Whether the design and implementation of the service take into account the needs and preferences of the individual
• Whether disabled people’s organisations (DPO) have been consulted in the design, development, and implementation of the service

1. Does your country have national laws ensuring that support services can be transferred across administrative regions within your country?[2]

If yes, please specify:

• The type of support service that can be transferred (i.e. personal budget, direct payment, support groups, peer support, habilitation and rehabilitation, mental-health services, etc…)
• Whether the service can be transferred only in certain conditions (i.e. the service can be transferred only for a certain target group or type of disability)
• Any challenge and/or barrier in transferring the service from one region to another

Projects

Please note that answers to this section may also include informal and/or local projects promoting independent living which you might consider a good practice to share.

1. Please mention one or more projects/programmes promoting deinstitutionalisation and independent living of which you are aware.

Please describe the project(s) mentioning:

• A short description and its objectives
• Its target group (i.e. age and/or impairment)
• Its scope/reach (i.e. national, local or European)
• Its funding (national, local, European, public, private)
• Its duration
• If disabled people’s organisations (DPO) have been consulted in the design, development, and implementation
• Its results (if applicable)

1. Please mention one or more projects promoting independent living of which you are aware that have been funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds. Please also specify which funding has been used to fund the project(s) – namely, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and/or the Cohesion Fund.

Please describe the project(s) mentioning:

• A short description and its objectives
• Its target group (i.e. age and/or impairment)
• Its scope/reach (i.e. national, local or European)
• Its duration
• If disabled people’s organisations (DPO) have been consulted in the design, development, implementation and monitoring the use of funds
• Its results (if applicable)

Experiences

In your experience, what are the good practices and challenges in the deinstitutionalisation process? Please provide at least one good and one bad example that you think it should be shared.

Answers in this section may also include experiences on accessibility of built environment, transports and information, as well as informed consent, awareness of rights and flexibility in the daily life of persons with disabilities.

1

[1]The term “implementation” will be used in the survey to mean “realisation”, “putting in practice”.

[2]For instance, a region in your country has a law providing personal assistance to persons with disabilities living in the region, however this is not ensured throughout the country and if the person changes the region of residence, he/she will lose the right to have personal assistance.