Supportive Communities for People with Disabilities
Background
People with disabilities in Israel constitute about ten percent of the total population. Most of them live in the community. The process of transfer from institutions to the community has been increasing in recent years, mainly for those with mental disabilities, as a result of new mental health legislation.
The Supportive Community for People with Disabilities in Israel is a model that aims to support independent and active living for people with disabilities and to enable the newly de-institutionalized to be absorbed in the community. The program helps to ensure people with disabilities can continue functioning independently either with or without family support – e.g. when parents are aging or have died, children have grown up and left home, or where one partner in a couple has left because of the other’s disability.
The service has been built on the model of the Supportive Community for the Elderly developed by JDC-ESHEL, and has been adapted to the specific needs of people with disabilities.
Goals
-
To develop a service that assists people with disabilities to live independently in the community.
-
To encourage the disabled to be active in improving the quality of life in the community.
-
To operate the service in regions whose socio-demographic composition and constellation of services are different from one another.
Target Population
Adults (aged 21-65) with different disabilities (physical, sensory, mental and cognitive) who live in their own apartments in the community. In a region with a population of 60,000, a Supportive Community can serve 120 households of people with disabilities (since some households comprise two people with disabilities, the number of people with disabilities served can reach 150).
Program Components
The Supportive Community for People with Disabilities is a program that provides a basket of services that enables disabled persons living in the community to cope with emergency situations, to function independently and with dignity, to be involved in the community, to contribute to it and to receive from it. The basket of services, for which the disabled persons pay a fee, includes:
-
A "Community Parent" who is available to the community members around-the-clock (for advice, conversation, to answer requests for immediate help).
-
Connection to an emergency call system (ambulance, assistance in lifting from falls, firefighters, etc.)
-
Medical services at night, weekends and on festivals, at a reduced cost.
-
Simple home repairs and adaptations (mending a blind, changing a lightbulb, elevating a chair, mending a handgrip).
-
Simple repairs of assistive devices (wheelchairs, walkers, home medical appliances) and assistance in transferring the assistive devices to repair workshops.
-
Assistance in delivering medications and with shopping.
-
Intercession with transportation services for people with disabilities who do not have a special vehicle.
-
Intercession vis-?-vis the authorities (to clarify eligibility and to ensure receipt of allowances).
-
Social activity, both integrated into mainstream community activity and adapted for the specific needs of those with disabilities.
Activities To Date
23 Communities have been established in (according to their founding date) Jerusalem (3), Hadera, Tel Aviv (2), Haifa, Sakhnin, Beersheba, Beit She’an Valley and Beit She’an city, Acre, Nahariya, Safed, Kiryat Shmonah, Karmiel, Nazareth, Ma’alot, Tiberias, Upper Galilee and Hatzor, Sderot, the Sharon region, Merhavim, Mizpe Ramon. These communities serve about 1,500 people with disabilities and 3,000 family members
The infrastructure has been laid to ensure service quality and sustainability and includes theoretical knowledge, training materials, marketing and integration strategies, program management software, and monitoring research.
Partners and Funding
Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services, National Insurance Institute, local authorities, NGOs, Jewish Federations in the U.S.A. (UJC) and Canada (UIA). the Jerusalem Foundation, Tel Aviv Foundation, Al and Naomi Eisman Foundation, Tauber Foundation, Eshel – the Association for Planning and Development of Services for the Aged in Israel, JDC-Israel.
