Irish Times Article on INCARE

Personal aides for disabled to "empower the individual"

By Padraig O'Morain (The Irish Times 6th of June)

"Everything is done for us," said Martin Naughton. "We are told when to go to bed and what food to eat. Because of that there's a lot of us say, for God's sake, don't rock the boat now.

"For people with severe disabilities at the moment there are no options but to get on the waiting list to go into a residential centre. All their daily needs are reasonably well catered for, but it's like being made fully independent within four walls of the residential centre."

That, as he says, suits some people and he's not knocking it. But if you have an independent mind in a severely disabled body you are still faced with the residential centre.

Unless you have your own personal assistant to help you in your daily living, even accompanying you to work, and who can hope to have that?

Actually, Mr. Naughton and several other severely physically disabled people who have started a Centre for Independent Living, think the idea of a personal assistant is quite feasible and they plan to launch a pilot project in about a month or so to prove it.

The project called INCARE, has been submitted for EC Funding through FAS (which is involved in so many innovative projects around the country) and the National Rehabilitation Board, so it has a very good chance of approval.

INCARE's viability is based on the argument that it is no more expensive, and may be cheaper, to provide a person with an assistant than it is to keep him or her in an institution.

If they can prove that this works - and it has worked in other countries - the implications are very great, not only for people with severe physical disabilities but to many others to whom the same principle can be applied.

How many old people, for instance, are stuck in nursing homes or health board institutions who could live in their own houses if the state would invest far smaller funds in an extended home help services than it costs to keep them where they are?

"It has worked," says Mr Naughton. "It started off in California 25 years ago with the whole notion "let's empower the individual ", let's give the individual the resources instead of handing over large sums of money to institutions."

The INCARE programme will kick off by training 15 people with severe physical disabilities in everything from identifying and understanding their own needs to their PRSI obligations to their personal assistants.

"We are going to empower these 15 people in their own lives," says Mr. Naughton. "For some of these people it will open up work opportunities - they can work the brains but they can't always work the hands and feet. We are also going to be training them to act as advocates and role models for people with severe disabilities."

Those training to be personal assistants on the INCARE programme will learn such skills as how to lift people and how to help with personal needs, and they will also be introduced to residential settings, community based projects and medical centres for people with severe physical disabilities. One of the purposes is to boost their future employment prospects in these areas.

People can earn Â£8 an hour working as personal assistants in Denmark, over Â£5 and hour in London and over Â£4 outside London, says Mr. Naughton. "It's a good opportunity for young individuals who are interested into getting into that sort of thing."

Trainees on the INCARE programme will be paid £75 to £80 a week. The people with disabilities will receive out-of-pocket expenses while they are on the course and they will be getting the services of the personal assistants as well.

At the end of the first two years the Center fro Independent Living will hold an international conference on the theme of independent living for people with severe disabilities.

This, they hope, will help persuade the Government to fund a personal assistance programme as part of its general response to disabiltiy.

Some such schemes are already funded in Britain and Northern Ireland. Almost all the staff of INCARE will be people will be people with severe disabilities as will almost all directors.

The whole scheme will be monitored by a committee to which the existing service providers - voluntary organisations, non-profit groups and religious orders who provide everything from day care to residential services with state funding - will be invited to send representatives.

If it works, the Center fro Independent Living - will hand INCARE over to existing organisations while it goes on to look at other ways of carrying out its role as a catalyst in creating options for Independent Living.

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Irish Times Article on INCARE

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