New disability assessment system in Armenia
Functional disability assessment
Since February 1 disability assessment in Armenia has been carried out according to the functional capabilities of the claimant. In 2024 everyone will undergo such a study, including those who are already on disability. Those who have received disability status indefinitely and do not need group confirmation can decide for themselves whether to undergo functional assessment.
As of February 2023, about 193,000 people with disabilities live in Armenia. For 156,000 of them, disability has been determined indefinitely.
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Why is the procedure for determining disability changing?
The new model for evaluating a person’s functional capabilities replaces the previous model for determining disability, which was used in almost all post-Soviet countries. According to the old model, the so-called medical and social expert commissions assessed the state of a person’s health, determining a disability group for them. And the person received certain privileges that were assigned to his group, there were three of them in total.
However, they could be completely meaningless for that particular person because they did not take into account the type of disability. The point is that those with visual, musculoskeletal and mental health impairments could receive the same benefits. And this is only because they were assessed according to the same standards and the same disability group was determined.
This model was particularly vulnerable given the fact that it only assessed a person’s disability in terms of health. Meanwhile, the world has long abandoned the exclusively medical model of disability in favor of a social one that protects human rights.
According to this model, disability is considered to be just a consequence of functional limitations acquired due to health problems and barriers, obstacles in the human environment.
This means that by removing these barriers and creating equal opportunities for all people, it is possible to achieve full inclusion for people with disabilities and realize their potential.
What is Functionality Assessment
The new model for assessing human functional capabilities is based on international experience. It will allow the state to get a clear idea of the services required, taking into account the needs of people with disabilities, and measures for their social inclusion. And this will allow developing a strategy aimed at improving the quality of their lives.
Under the new model, disability will no longer be viewed as a long-term health problem. It will be considered a phenomenon caused by constant physical, mental, mental and sensory problems. Accordingly, the interaction between a person and the environment will be assessed, as a result of which his activity in everyday life and participation in society is limited.
Therefore, the services provided to a person with a disability will be aimed at overcoming the limitations of his activity and expanding the scope of his participation.
• at school and other educational institutions,
• At work,
• in family and social life,
• in sports and cultural events, etc.
To do this, steps will be taken to remove physical obstacles in the environment and change attitudes towards them in society, create additional opportunities and provide services.
This means that there will be an assessment of the situation for each person, taking into account his individual needs, characteristics and abilities. It is expected that with the introduction of the system, state assistance to people with disabilities will become more targeted and effective.
Who and how will assess the condition of a person
Under the previous model, there were already disrict medical and social commissions that assessed all applicants.
Under the new system, each person will have their own expert group of 3-5 specialists. With each new application for a functional assessment, the system will automatically select specialists with the appropriate qualifications from a list registered in the register created by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
In this case, the location of the applicant and the specialist, his professional characteristics will be taken into account. Thus, a new professional commission will be formed for each assessment. It will include not only doctors, but also specialists who evaluate a person’s activity and capabilities: a psychologist, a kinesiologist [studies muscle movement, diagnoses and treats diseases of the nervous system, dizziness, diseases of the spine and joints], a speech therapist, a child psychologist, social and special teachers.
It is planned that the group can be mobile and will itself visit those applicants who cannot move independently.
About corruption
The process of determining disability group has long been considered vulnerable because of corruption. In fact, the medical and social commissions were the only structure that had the right to determine the disability group, revise it or deprive the disability status. That is, the decision on a person’s disability was made at the discretion of the members of the commission.
Of course, there was also a procedure for appealing against this decision, but people usually did not resort to it, being sure that a higher body would not cancel the decision of the commission.
As a rule, the composition of the commission remained unchanged for years, and the applicants and its members developed certain relationships during the examination, and once every 1-2 years during the re-examination. Therefore, corruption became one of the accepted models for regulating these relations.
It is expected that the new system will also solve this problem, since
• the applicant simply will not know which specialist will be involved in the assessment process,
• selection of specialists will be carried out automatically based on the data provided by the applicant.
Although the risks will remain if the register of specialists is not replenished with a large number of specialists and in each case commissions with the same composition are formed.
What services will appear after the launch of the new system?
Along with the introduction of the system, there is talk about a number of services that supposedly will be provided to people with disabilities, such as personal assistant, apartment arrangement and transport services. However, none of the services has been discussed either among the institutions responsible for their provision, or with organizations involved in the protection of the rights of people with disabilities.
What is changing?
In fact, only the tools used to assess whether a person has a disability and what services they need are changing. As a result, the state will have more data on people with disabilities, including information that is not directly related to their disability.
Based on the functional assessment, an individual program of services will be developed for each person. This program will include all possible services that can improve quality of life, even if they are not available in Armenia.
This will enable decision makers to have a better idea of what services need to be introduced in the country. But the reform cannot guarantee that these services will be provided to an individual.
Thus the state will receive high-quality, detailed data, and people with disabilities will receive individual service programs.
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Functional Disability Assessment
