Your progress

0%

Build your action plan

The activities below are strategies your organization can use to support the provision of effective personal assistance in the communities you serve.

Use your mouse or keyboard to expand each of the activity headings below. To add an activity to your action plan, select the Add button beside it.

Personal Assistance
Work in partnership with disabled people’s organizations

It can be difficult for people with disabilities to advocate on their own behalf and it is easier to bring about change by working collectively. CBR therefore needs to work with disabled people’s organizations to establish options for personal assistance.

These organizations can help to:

  • Promote and develop agreed-upon standards for personal assistance
  • Ensure that local information on personal assistance options is available to people with disabilities
  • Create options for personal assistance where these services do not exist
  • Support the development and monitoring of appropriate personal assistance services for people with disabilities
  • Ensure that people with disabilities are linked to disabled people’s organizations and self-help groups.

Learn about the changes a consumer-controlled personal assistance service was able to bring about in Serbia.

cbr-placeholder

CBR
in
Action
cbr-placeholder

In Serbia, after a consumer-controlled personal assistance service was established for the first time, the lives of many individuals were transformed on a personal level, and people with disabilities were mobilized to act collectively. 

As a result of the service, one user has become an active disability leader. Previously his life was limited to reading at home with only sporadic visits outside; now, with the support of his personal assistant, he travels three times a week to lead a disabled people’s organization in planning and activities. 

This disabled people’s organization has successfully advocated and mobilized the community to establish a local branch office for independent living for people with disabilities. The office space was provided by the local municipality.

Assist people with disabilities to develop individual support plans
social-pa-manwheelchair

It is important to ensure that personal assistance is appropriate to the social and cultural context, and sensitive to gender and age-related needs.

CBR can help people with disabilities to:

  • Identify which tasks require assistance (being careful not to make assumptions about what these might be)
  • Review (and, if possible, try out) the different personal assistance options available in the area
  • Communicate to their personal assistants
  • Put in place written personal assistance agreements for both paid and volunteer assistants
  • Review personal assistance needs at regular intervals and modify plans when there have been changes to an individual’s health status, daily activities, or the environment.

Learn about a programme established by a disabled people’s organization in the Philippines to provide training to personal assistants.

cbr-placeholder

CBR
in
Action


Select the video Play () button (above) to see how a CBR worker helped a mother learn to manage and care for two boys with intellectual disabilities.

Support training opportunities

To be effective, both people with disabilities and their personal assistants require training that gives them the confidence and skills they need. People with disabilities need to be able to express their needs and expectations clearly to ensure that they receive personal assistance of good quality. CBR can support people with disabilities to:

  • Access training in communication and assertiveness skills
  • Learn the best ways to identify, arrange and manage their personal assistance requirements
  • Learn how to effectively negotiate their personal assistance needs within their families, communities, schools and workplaces

Opportunities for training may be available through a number of sources, including disabled people’s organizations and self-help groups, local governmental and non-governmental organizations and CBR organizations.

social-pa-PA-training

It is important for personal assistants to be confident and competent in their roles and responsibilities. In many situations personal assistants, particularly those who provide support on an informal basis, will not have received any training for the tasks they carry out. Training is important for personal assistants, to understanding their role and its limitations.

Observe how a CBR worker helped a family learn how to provide appropriate personal care for two young boys.

Saif-Noor

CBR
in
Action

Ensure families are supported in their roles as personal assistants

Family members who provide personal assistance often do so in addition to their other roles and responsibilities, and with little or no support. This often leaves them exhausted with little time for their own needs. CBR should make effort to provide support for family members by:

  • Identifying options for emergency back-up or respite support
  • Linking the family with other families in a similar position 
  • Listening and talking with them about their concerns, and working with them to find solutions to better manage their personal assistant roles
  • Including families in training opportunities so they can learn coping strategies
  • Ensuring that younger members of the family who carry out personal assistance roles are still able to attend school and have time for recreation
Prepare for and manage crisis situations

When support systems break down, the needs of people with disabilities must continue to be met. It is essential that CBR plan in advance with other stakeholders to ensure they are prepared to respond to a crisis.

Communities are a rich source of support and can provide resources and flexible options especially during times of crisis. Community solutions will usually be the most appropriate and effective in both the immediate and longer term.

CBR managers should work with disabled people’s organizations and local authorities to agree upon strategies for managing a crisis in advance. Some possible options to explore before a crisis happens are:
  • Is there a response team that can be called?

This team might include:

  • A social worker from a local authority
  • A trained representative from a disabled people’s organization
  • A local law enforcement officer, and
  • A CBR staff member
  • Are there temporary facilities in the community that can be used?
 Options might be available in facilities that offer respite care or rehabilitation.
  • Is there a safe hostel in the community for supporting women or girls who have experienced sexual abuse or domestic violence?
 These facilities need to be modified if necessary to ensure access for women and girls with disabilities.
  • Do social workers who support families in crisis situations also have training in disability?
 If not, can disabled people’s organizations and CBR support this training?
  • Can members of the extended family provide temporary support until long-term solutions are found?
  • Can disabled people’s organizations and CBR identify families who are willing to provide support and care for other families experiencing a crisis?
  • Are self-help groups available for both people with disabilities and family members?
Encourage a move away from institutional care

Traditionally people with disabilities who needed a high level of personal assistance were sent to institutions. While this situation is changing, institutions do still exist in many countries, but institutional care violates human rights according to the CRPD Article 19.  CBR and disabled people’s organizations need to workto close existing institutions and prevent new ones from being built. 

Countries that have moved away from institutional care have successfully converted their institutions into independent housing, where people with disabilities can live independently with some support available as needed or respite accommodation, where they can stay for short breaks while family members take a break from their roles as personal assistants.

BACK CONTINUE