Ok, so a little background: I'm a disability rights advocate in US. I live, eat, and breathe the subject. I know that here we have the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which set a lot of ground rules for the equal treatment for people with disabilities. I work at a CIL (Center for Independent Living) and all of our jobs revolve around helping people live in their own homes instead of nursing homes or other institutions. We've seen, from empirical research, that people live healthier lives, their care is cheaper, and the quality of living skyrockets once pwd (people with disabilities) move into their own homes.
I was wondering if there were things like CILs, and the ADA in other countries? What steps are pwd taking to make themselves assets to their communities?
I changed the title of your Thread so it will be easier to find and the focus to be on your question which is if there are any In Home services or Disability Acts in other countries. Possibly you will get some feedback but for my country it is grossly lacking among other things. Taking care of the disabled in a country seems to be largely based on the economy of that country. The more third world you get the more likely there will be nothing much to offer those who are disabled citizens.
Thanks so much, JB.
I think you're right about the link between economies and services for pwd's. It makes sense but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. Funding is a big part of the problem, but it's not the biggest. To me, at least, the stigma attached to being disabled is (excuse the pun) is more crippling than the actual disability. It's almost impossible to get a job if you have an obvious disability and it is impossible to hold a job if they don't make any reasonable accommodations.
It bugs me. Instead of providing services so that pwd's (at least in America) can be productive members of society, they are left in beds to rot in glorified warehouses where they can do nothing more but eat taxpayer money.
Doesn't it make more sense to:
A) Put people (personal care providers, nurses, certified nursing assistants, etc) to work providing in home services.
Train the disabled to work regular jobs so that they can earn money and live like the rest of us. Which, by the way, makes them taxpayers which would put more money into the US governments pocket.
C) Integrate them into the community, you could convert institutions into low-income housing.
Similar problems in other countries? Creative solutions to any of these problems?
Name: SlaD
Country:
Comments: In a perfect world frost's A,B,C sounds good but the world isn't that way. When you talk disabled you talk money, you talk building and adjusting and most managers of money don't want to know about that because we're not 'worth' it.