RI-ing DI[1]

This is how the process of deinstitutionalisation (DI) in Bulgaria could be briefly described despite the token consensus around the need to take children and young adults (including those with physical and mental disabilities) out of the large institutions and to place them in foster care, protected dwellings, small group homes (SMG) and residential family-type settings. ‘I felt better in the large institution. When they got me here, I couldn’t stop crying for a week’, says a young[...]

Read more »»

Another year of “combating poverty and social exclusion” is over, though on European level this time. So what? The never ending isolation, caring, misery and DEPENDECE were the major features of the disabled people’ lives in Bulgaria. These are the truthful companians of all disabled people – children and adults, active and passive, rebels and conformists, sick and suffering helplesness – who are not able to enjoy the new Bulgarian highways, the new Sofia subway and all the rest of the achievements that the 2010 Bulgarian Government is proud of. They will continue to live in misery – with no access to the progress promised by this Government – unless fundamental changes are made in the[...]

Read more »»

Students from Sofia University conducted a thorough evaluation of the ‘Assistant for Independent Living’ service provided by the municipality of Sofia. The evaluation was part of a project implemented by the Centre for Independent Living in partnership with the Department of Sociology of the Sofia University and funded by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. The project started at the end of November 2008 with a Disability Rights Workshop. During the workshop meetings various topics from the field of social policy and disabilities were discussed, such as the social model of disability, the participation of disabled people in the policy-making process, personal assistance and legislation. Students in political[...]

Read more »»