Innovation: Network for personal assistance – Assistentti
Finland
AAI Domains:
Independent, healthy and secure living (independent living, physical safety, improved access to health and care services)
Participation in society (political participation)
Active ageing involves people from all walks of life, and must include people with severe disabilities who have an equal right to lead a full and fulfilling life. There are huge variations in the level of provision for people with disabilities between countries and no state has solved the problems of social exclusion that disability produces. The Nordic model of social welfare provision in Finland provides a highly developed range of benefits and services for people living with disabilities and an important step was taken in September 2009 when new legislation for personal assistants for people with severe disabilities came into force.
Personal assistants for people with severe disabilities that prevented them from fully participating in society and having a dignified life through support with the daily activities of life such as personal hygiene, dressing and cleaning existed in Finland before 2009. However, the new provisions increased the availability and eligibility for personal assistants and put the promotion of the autonomy of disabled people at the core of the programme with the ethos that the disability is not the obstacle, it is the lack of assistance.
The expansion of the provision of personal assistance placed additional choices and opportunities into the hands of people living with disabilities who after being assessed as eligible by the municipality then faced a number of options. They could directly employ a personal assistant, use a voucher from the municipality or choose to let the municipality organise the personal assistant on their behalf. The social innovation that enabled the personal assistants programme develop was the establishment of a national network, Assistentti, as a membership organisation for all parties interested and involved in the area.
Assistentti ran a publicity campaign – Get a Life – to promote awareness of the programme and collaborated in the development of training provision for personal assistants so that it became an ever more clearly defined professional role. Assistentti produced a large range of good practice guidance for people with disabilities who could choose to effectively act as an employer with the rights and responsibilities that this entailed and could easily find this a daunting prospect.
There are over 80 organisations that are members of Assistentti covering all parts of Finland and providing innovative support to people with disabilities and personal assistants in order to develop the operation of this form of provision. This is not to suggest that the personal assistants programme and Assistentti have solved all of the problems of social exclusion and difficulties that people with disabilities face in contemporary society, but it shows what can be done to enable their participation. This assistance undoubtedly contributes to the health, well-being and potential to actively age for people with disabilities across Finland.
In relation to active ageing, personal assistants and Assistentti enable independent living for disabled people who face great challenges in their daily lives with physical safety assured by personal support. The combination provides improved access to health and care services while Assistentti through its ‘Get a Life’ campaign is effectively encouraging political participation for people with disabilities.