Project 81

As with the USA, the concept of disabled people controlling their own support system started with a small group of disabled people being given money to employ their own personal assistants to live a fulfilling life in the community. But this time the group were not university students, but residents of a residential home in Hampshire, England. Project 81, the International Year of People with Disabilities, appealed to the right-wing neoliberal government at that time, which favoured self-help and self-responsibility for one’s own welfare. Here, disabled people were being taken from dependency on others in expensive care homes, to the independence of their self-directed support in the community.

Malta small’s size lends itself ideal to implement changes; word travels fast, unlike the propensity to challenge the status quo. Along the years, Malta’s disability rights movement has been sporadic, often led by parents who placed most of their concerns on what happens to their sons and daughters once they pass away. The charity model was at the forefront, with the Church opening a number of larger residential institutions. Whilst a stance that was much needed at the time, when persons with disabilities were kept hidden from society, it remains a dominant perspective to this day, with institutions generally perceived as essential and beneficial.

The Law on Personal Assistance (PAA) was adopted in Bulgaria in 2018 after a long struggle by several groups of people with disabilities. An initial initiative was the Center for Independent Life (CIL) - a non-governmental organization of disabled people with over 20 years of expertise in protecting the rights of disabled people and their empowerment. In 2009, a group of people with severe physical disabilities, with the support of lawyers, studied the European and world experience and, especially that of Sweden and Norway, and developed a draft of the PAA. In it, they combined the best practices from the experience of other countries and complied with the current Bulgarian legal norms.

Personal Assistance - What should personal assistance look like?

Teodor Mladenov, Senior Lecturer at the University of Dundee and Coordinator of ENIL’s Independent Living Research Network

Introduction

This article is part of a special issue on Personal Assistance (PA) of the Disability Rights Defenders Newsletter published by the Independent Living Institute.

Independent Living Institute in cooperation with Funktionsrätt Sverige (The Swedish Disability Rights Federation)

ÅRSBERÄTTELSE 2022

Independent Living Institute (ILI) arbetar för att främja möjligheter för människor med funktionsnedsättning till mer personlig och politisk makt, självbestämmande, full delaktighet och jämlikhet genom information, utbildning, opinionsbildning och projektverksamhet. Under 2022 verkade ILI via flera projekt för att uppnå sina mål och visioner som beskrivs i detta dokument. Alla större projekt har egna webbsidor, facebooksidor och ger ut nyhetsbrev.

Presenters at the Tenerife Conference on Independent Living 2004 with Judy Heumann in the first row

Judy Heumann has left us.

The worldwide Independent Living and Disability Rights Movement has lost its most outspoken, powerful, and tireless spokesperson. Judy Heumann passed away on March 4, aged 75.

 This document was co-created in May 2022 by Teodor Mladenov (University of Dundee), Jim Elder-Woodward (Scottish Independent Living Coalition), Mari Siilsalu (Independent Living Institute), Ines Bulic Cojocariu (European Network on Independent Living), Nadia Hadad (European Network on Independent Living), and Lilia Angelova-Mladenova (European Network on Independent Living).

Independent Living Institute (ILI) works to promote opportunities for individuals with disabilities for more personal and political power, self-determination, full participation and equality through information, education, lobby and project activities. During 2021, ILI carried out several projects to reach its goals and visions which are described in this document. All the projects have their own webpage, Facebook-page and publish newsletters.

The structure of this annual report is as follows:

Independent Living Institute (ILI) arbetar för att främja möjligheterna för människor med funktionsnedsättning till mer personlig och politisk makt, självbestämmande, full delaktighet och jämlikhet genom information, utbildning, opinionsbildning och projektverksamhet. Under 2021 verkade ILI via flera projekt för att uppnå sina mål och visioner som beskrivs i detta dokument. Alla större projekt har egna webbsidor, facebooksidor och ger ut nyhetsbrev. 

Årsberättelsens struktur är som följer: 1) projektverksamhet, 2) övrigt om verksamheten och institutet inkl. förteckningar över evenemang, nyhetsartiklar, remissvar m.m. som genomförts/ producerats under året samt personal, styrelse och finansiering.

Mabel Giraldo
University of Bergamo, Italy

October-November 2021

My name is Mabel Giraldo. I'm a PhD and research fellow at University of Bergamo in Italy, Department of Human and Social Sciences.

From October 11th to November 14th 2021, I was hosted by the Stockholm University at the Department of Special Education as visiting researcher, related to “Outgoing Visiting Fellowship” (grant) under the “STaRs Program (Supporting Talented Researchers) - action 2, 2020” of University of Bergamo.

(Daniela Komanická)
Stockholm 21st September 2021