What changes do we need in the law on the integration of persons with disabilities?
Even at its adoption, it was clear that the Law on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities was rather an unsuccessful compromise between regulations for “integration”, as demanded by some human rights organizations and experts from the European Union, and “social service” mechanisms, which were urged by the government and supported by nationally represented organizations.
Therefore, as of January 1, 2006, the law did not fulfill its basic function, laid down in Art. 1 to “regulate social relations related to the integration of people with disabilities”. Confirmation of the above statement is the fact that the implementation of the law, as well as the control over its implementation, are entrusted to the Social Assistance Agency, respectively to the territorial directorates of Social Assistance. Moreover, monthly social integration allowances are calculated based on a guaranteed minimum income, are paid according to the criteria of the type and degree of disability. The social assessment is reduced to a purely formal procedure without importantly determining the resources to support the individual and to include in society. The texts that directly relate to integration as a process – education, accessibility, technical aids and personal assistance – are purely declarative, and the lack of rules and procedures laid down in the Implementing Regulations of the LIPD. It confirms the view that the law is not for the integration of people with disabilities, but a supplement for the “disabled” people by the Low on Social Assistance.
In this article, you can comment on any regulations of the low and proposals for change, where the integration process is replaced by social service. The analysis of the law and regulations for its operation, as well as a proposal to change the LIPD are based on the principle of equality of the people with disabilities. It is a creation of conditions in the environment and compensation for individual deficits from disability – principle, proclaimed from the EU, laid down in the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities and all its political documents, and officially accepted by the UN and recently signed by Bulgaria.
Download: THE INTEGRATION and the Law on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities