A simpler, uniform and integrated system to accompany people with disabilities and their families. This is the objective of the new guidelines approved by the Council of the Calabria Region, on the proposal of the Welfare Department led by Pasqualina Straface, for the adoption and implementation of the individual, personalized and participatory Life Project.
The provision defines the methodological and operational framework for the application of the national reform on the regional territory, where the experimentation phase already affects all five Calabrian provinces at the same time.
Disability, Calabria accelerates national reform
With the approval of the new guidelines, the Region implements the innovations introduced by the national reform on disability, updating the previous regional system.
A significant step is thus taken: the old model of the “individual project” evolves and aligns with the provisions of Legislative Decree 62/2024 and Law 328/2000, overcoming an exclusively welfare vision of disability to promote an approach based on the centrality of the person, self-determination and full social inclusion.
Straface: «We no longer want to leave families alone»
«Behind this administrative act there are the faces, stories and expectations of thousands of Calabrian families who we no longer want to leave alone in the face of a fragmented service network – declared councilor Pasqualina Straface forcefully on the sidelines of the Council meeting -. Today we are making a concrete and advanced form of socio-health integration operational, defining the precise rules and tools with which the Social Territorial Areas and the Provincial Health Authorities will finally work in synergy”.
«Through stringent interinstitutional agreements, we promote shared governance for unitary and humane management, which also involves the school system, employment centers and the third sector. Thus we overcome the historical distances between healthcare and social care to ensure uniformity and equal rights throughout the regional territory.”
What is the Life Project and what changes for people with disabilities
According to the new guidelines, the Life Project represents a tool aimed at building personalized paths based on the needs, aspirations and objectives of the person with disabilities.
«The Life Project must not be understood as a cold bureaucratic fulfillment, but as a citizenship pact, the strategic tool through which the person with disabilities can define their objectives, aspirations and necessary supports» underlined councilor Straface.
«Having extended this experimentation to the entire regional territory allows us today to apply these new guidelines in a widespread and homogeneous way, bringing a real change in the daily life of Calabrians».
ATS and ASP will work together with uniform procedures
The next step announced by the Region will be the approval of the formats for interinstitutional agreements aimed at full integration between social and health services.
In particular, the relationships between ATS and ASP will be regulated regarding PUA (Single Access Point) and UVM (Multidimensional Evaluation Unit), with the aim of standardizing procedures throughout the regional territory.
The approved guidelines also regulate principles, roles, procedures and tools, regulating the project activation process, the role of the person and the family, the methods of carrying out the multidimensional assessment and the identification of reasonable accommodations and resources that can actually be activated.
Continuity of care allowance for people with very serious disabilities
The aspects regulated by the provision also include the management of interventions intended for people with very serious disabilities who require high-intensity support through the National Self-Sufficiency Fund.
The interinstitutional agreement scheme will make it possible to guarantee continuity in the provision of care allowance in favor of this type of beneficiaries, while the management of the fund is now entrusted directly to the Social Territorial Areas.
A unique guide to guarantee the same rights throughout Calabria
The approval of the document immediately makes uniform methodological guidance available to the Social Territorial Areas, the Provincial Health Authorities and all the subjects involved.
The objective is to guarantee homogeneity of application throughout the regional territory, strengthening the protection of the rights of people with disabilities and their families and ensuring shared operating methods among all the bodies involved.