The party ruled – the proletariat won!
This is how Iva Doichinova, a friend, colleague for the cause and PR of the Center for independent living, concludes the events of last Thursday. She claims to have said it in other words, but the point is the same!
Read MoreIs the capital accessible for disabled people? Two different answers again, the only one is correct!
The accessibility of Sofia was again the main problem at the discussion, this time in the Nova TV program “Hello, Bulgaria” on June 8th. Vanya Pandieva and Lisa Boncheva from the Center for Independent Living and the mother of a child with a disability – Nadia Tsareva from the National Alliance “Smile with Me” shared their daily difficulties in the reportage. Kapka Panayotova – Center for Independent Living, Stoyan Bratoev from Metropolitan-Sofia and Minka Vladimirova – social worker at Sofia Municipality debated in the studio. Here are the main points and statements of the different parties in the discussion:
Read More“To fight for your rights is not a sprint at 100 meters. It is a marathon.”
Damian Tatic is a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and one of the founders of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Read MoreIs this incapacity or false?
65-70 ARE ACCESSABLE SCHOOLS IN SOFIA, STATED BY DEPUTY MAYOR ALBENA ATANASOVA
Read MoreThree lives, equally valuable but completely different – personal stories for personal assistance
Three stories of three lives of three different Spanish, united by the desire to lead an independent life despite their disability. In Madrid, this is possible because there is regulated access to personal assistance, in Bulgaria – there is no such access.
Read More“THE PERSONAL ASSISTANCE – A GUARANTEE FOR THE RIGHT PEOPLE WITH PERMANENT DISABILITIES TO LIVE INDEPENDENT AND WORTHY LIVING IN THE COMMUNITIES CHOSEN BY THEM”
“The personal assistance – a guarantee for the right of people with permanent disabilities to live independent and dignified lives in the communities chosen by them.” So is entitled the analysis of the necessary financial resources for the implementation of the draft law on personal assistance. This is not a new type of social assistance, but rather a qualitatively different mechanism that will allow the disabled people to live independent living.
It turns out that if the main goals of the idea are preserved – the social inclusion of disabled people through empowerment and targeted funding based on individual needs assessment – the public resource needed to meet them will be one-tenth of that spent in 2009 year for institutional care (social homes, day care centers, etc.). However, the success of the endeavor depends on the political will to make unpopular legislative decisions, such as restricting the access of relatives to assistantships, introducing pre-service training for beneficiaries, providing personal assistance only to those who are willing to manage their lives and the support they need. Only under these conditions can the effect of money spent in the form of a higher quality of life, rather than a better quality of services, maintain the status quo of isolation and passivity.
Because the absence of Bulgarian experience, the hypotheses made for the purposes of this analysis are based on the documented experience – politically and historically – of the leading countries in this respect, such as Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and have been used to determine the number and the dynamics of users, the number of hours for personal assistance and the hourly rate for assistant-ships.
You can see the whole material here.
“A HALF OF THE DISABILITY PENSIONS ARE FAKE”
“A half of the disability pensions are false,” Totyu Mladenov said yesterday. He said it “On four eyes” with Tsvetanka Rizova, but people heard it all over Bulgaria. It is good for the Minister to have the courage to make such an unpopular statement – it gives hope that the Minister will have the courage to launch radical reforms in disability policies. The bad thing is, he said one half-truth – most disability pensions are a miserable addition to their recipients’ income, but they are perfectly legal, Mr Minister. The reason for this is in the system for performance evaluation and the status of the so-called TEMC decision.
Read MoreLOST IN THE TRANSLATION
LOST IN THE TRANSLATION most goes as a commentary headline for the information leaked to the National Disability Network’s March 2010 site:
“Bulgaria has been awarded for its contribution to the disability area. Golden Book 2010 Award Ceremony for Corporate Social Responsibility in Disability Field, rights and implementation.
Read MoreABOUT THE PEOPLE, THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE PUBLIC DEFENSE
“Light, not a shadow on the human rights” is the motto of the institution called the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria or, to put it another way, the Human Advocate with a duty to protect the citizens guaranteed by law.
A group of people with disabilities who spend most of their lives in the shadows, not because of unnecessary modesty or unclean affairs, but because of the “caring” measures of protection and security of the state and municipality to them, have decided to give themselves another chance, not to be tempted by conciliatory obedience, and despite the innocuous experience they have in defending their human rights, to make another effort and turn to the “light” in the face of the National Ombudsman.
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