table of contents - home page - text-only home page Independent Living and Personal Assistant Services in Finland Summary of a paper by Kalle Könkkölä and Gunilla Sjörvall (The following report was prepared by DisabilityWorld reporter Helga Roth of Munich, drawn from sources cited below) The Threshhold, an organization founded in 1973, selected the improvement of the educational level of people with disabilities as its first main issue since the movement would benefit if academically qualified people acted as advocates. The slogan of Threshhold is "Only law can make us free" and all actions are based on the principle to oppose charity since disabled people cannot sell their dignity. In the Finnish Independent Living Movement persons with disability have created their own objectives and methods and are working politically as much as possible. The personal assistant has been defined as a person employed by another person, with 100% public financial support, to help him or her in day-to-day activities, to enable the employer to live outside an institution without burdening his or her relatives and friends excessively. In Finland the PAS operated on a trial basis for about 10 years. In 1988 a new law on disability was enacted which declared that people with disabilities have a right to certain basic services including housing, transportation, interpretation and home remodeling. As of 1992 municipalities in Finland are required to provide sufficient residential services to allow people with disabilities to live in their homes. The existing adaptation training for people with disabilities was criticized by the younger generation as not strengthening their identity as disabled persons but instead making them "respectable invalids" who are easy to take care of. (Adaptation training has long been offered to disabled Finns, parents of disabled children and others as a general introduction to disability services, organizations and resources and how to use them.) Threshhold has developed a substitute course that focuses on training persons with disabilities as employers with sufficient knowledge of necessary legal matters. The view of the European Commission (excerpts) Ms Marita Iglesias, consultant on Disability Matters in the European Disability Forum, Women's Group estimates that there are about 40 million person with disabilities in the European Union, or up to 12% of the EU population. The growing acceptance of a need to protect the rights and freedoms of disabled and elderly persons and to secure both their inclusion in society and a right to equality of opportunity is manifest in recent legislation and constitutional developments within a number of member states. The European Social Fund (ESF) underpins strategies in the field of disability by targeting those at risk and improving their employability. The Amsterdam Treaty resulted in an increase of anti-discrimination policies and action. It acknowledged for the first time the extent of discrimination against disabled and aged persons. According to Vappu Taipale, Director General of the Finnish National Research and Development Center for Health and Welfare, there are many obstacles to independent living in terms of the whole EU population. Independent Living includes decent economic means of meeting everyday needs, but too many older and people with disabilities live in poverty. Within the European Union there are several Structural Fund projects that encourage the employment of people with disabilities including the "Mainstream Project" which works with persons suffering from mental illness. Although assistive technologies can be of great importance in disabled people's lives, the use of such technologies is still quite limited in the majority of EU countries. There are many reasons including lack of information and proper standardization, paucity of enterprises in the area and insufficient interest on the part of large enterprises. Kalle Könkkölä, National Council on Disability, reports that in spite of legislation that in principle gives persons with disabilities the opportunity to receive home help including a personal assistant, the savings mentality of municipalities causes them to underestimate the need for this help. A particular problem is that help is often regarded as being needed only in the home. This, in turn limits opportunities for disabled individuals to participate in working life. According to an ILO treaty, people with disabilities should be guaranteed at least secondary level schooling. He pointed out that this has not happened even in countries that have ratified the treaty. In Finland in contrast to the past, young people with disabilities are no longer being forced onto a pension system but are given corresponding amounts of money for rehabilitation. In the EU people with disabilities can make themselves heard through the European Disability Forum (EDF), a body made up of national umbrella organizations for people with disabilities and of representatives of EU level disability organizations. The EDF is a citizens' organization. Within the EU there is, however, no genuine council of persons with disabilities capable of dealing with all matters. In the European Parliament there is a disability intergroup which has promoted many issues important to people with disabilities. Reference:Independent Living, European Conference on Independent Living of Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities, Helsinki, October 6-7,1999, background paper published by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Socius 5/1999, Finland, published by the above ministry. Finland: The Threshhold Association:founded in 1973 by disabled university students. It developed into a Human Rights organization of people with disabilities. It is managed by disabled persons, but admits their allies and non-disabled persons as members. It represents the international independent living movement in Finland. table of contents - home page - text-only home page