“A request of the disability movement, especially of people suffering from severe disabilities, is finally being implemented”, noted the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for the pilot program “Personal Assistant for People with Disabilities”, at the meeting he had at noon at the Maximos Palace the MEP Stelios Kybouropoulos, the golden paralympians in Botsia, Grigoris Polychronidis and Anna Neda and the head of the Cultural Center of the municipality of Peristeri and municipal councilor, Babi Danavis.
The Prime Minister, referring to this important program, which is being instituted and implemented for the first time in Greece, stressed: “I remember our first discussions with Stelios Kimbouropoulos on the issue of the Personal Assistant, and he had made me aware at that time of the need for a substantial state intervention to address this backlog and to be able to have a state-funded support that will allow you to meet your basic needs, be autonomous and creative, and you are all very creative people and you have proven that you can overcome and the most difficult obstacles, which to us may seem insurmountable “.
Mr. Mitsotakis noted that the government is proceeding with the implementation of this institution, in the first phase as a pilot from Attica, but with rapid expansion to four more regions of the country.
“It is an initiative funded, not only by the NSRF but also by the Recovery Fund. I emphasize this because we often hear criticism that the Recovery Fund only concerns some large companies, a few in any case. You are the best proof that concerns all our fellow citizens, especially those who are most in need.
And I think we have also organized a process that is fast, it is transparent, it is a process that visits will take place in your home and not elsewhere, and I will look forward to when the first Personal Assistants get a job, “You can share your own experiences with us and see how, moving forward, we can further improve this important institution,” he said.
He added that the Personal Assistant is just one aspect of the government’s comprehensive policy on people with disabilities.
“We have discussed them many times, it is a horizontal action that we are developing here in the Secretariat of the Government under the Minister of State, Mr. Gerapetritis, who coordinates all the relevant ministries. But I also thank the Minister, because he put a lot of energy and effort in the implementation of this institution and we go for more “, he underlined.
“Today is a very important day, because in general it is a first step for independent living”, pointed out the MEP Stelios Kympouropoulos, noting that “the Personal Assistant is the first, one of the main pillars for the disabled to overcome the obstacles that society has built towards him and to have a life as he dreams, as he wants it, with his own choices, with his own desires and with his own needs to be fulfilled. a democratic country “.
Mr. Kimbouropoulos added that from previous governments only promises were made that were not fulfilled. “There were words, words, words. That ‘it will be done’, ‘yes, we want it’, ‘yes, we will do it’ but when the governments came ‘it’ would never be done,” he said.
“I think the biggest obstacle, which we are overcoming, because I think that the perceptions of Greek society have changed, many times it is in people’s minds. It is in the stereotypes, in the mentality as you said”, the prime minister pointed out during the discussion. “This is changing. And it is changing from the young children as well,” he said.
With his family and his child of just a few months by his side, the golden paralympian, Grigoris Polychronidis, spoke about the “dream” that came true. “As president of the Paralympics, what I can say is that both as paralympians and as athletes with severe disabilities, we desperately need the Personal Assistant, who will be able to take us even further. And now we have the Paralympic Games in Paris. “, in which, some athletes, if we have a Personal Assistant, we will have wings to fight even better, and it is an urgent need of course”, he noted.
“To me honestly, the Personal Assistant as an institution is equivalent to life itself. A person with a disability, when he can and there is a need to use the Personal Assistant, is really the path for him, the way he can ok him in the society “, said the head of the Cultural Center of the municipality of Peristeri and municipal councilor, Babis Danavis, who gives his own battle to help the disabled in his municipality.
In the context of the discussion on the prospects for further utilization of the program, Kyriakos Mitsotakis assured that where there are difficulties these will be addressed. “I believe that this discussion and your personal stories and their promotion, also have an educational dimension, because they allow us to put the problems, which we face in their proper dimension,” said the Prime Minister.
“The important thing is that we have the top, which gives us the direction. And it is a direction that is inclusive, different”, underlined the Deputy Minister of Labor, Domna Michailidou, assuring her that any problems that will be identified in the first phase of the program, they will be corrected.
Government sources note that the institution of “Personal Assistant” is being implemented for the first time in Greece, and in its pilot phase will include 2,000 people, aged 16 to 65, without being limited to cases of mobility disability, but also covering the mental, developmental, mental and sensory.
It is an intervention that is part of the broader framework of social policy and actions for equality, with the aim of substantially supporting and improving the lives of people with disabilities.
In the first phase of the pilot application, 1,000 people from Attica will participate. In the second phase, from January 2023, an additional 1,000 people from other Regions of the country will be added. In 2024, the service will be expanded nationwide, with secured European resources.
Those interested will be evaluated by special interdisciplinary committees, which will consist of a social worker, occupational therapist and psychologist. The evaluation will take place at the home of the interested party, on a day and time that he will choose, while he will also be able to choose the Personal Assistant of his choice. At the same time, a Register of Personal Assistants is created.
The pilot program was included in the Recovery and Resilience Fund, a fact that contributed to its rapid activation with resources of 41 million euros, while for the subsequent nationwide implementation, 320 million euros have been secured through the NSRF.
The program, which is a long-standing request of the disability movement, was designed after an extensive and constructive dialogue with ESAmeA.
Source: Capital
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