New social service may appear in Belarus

A new social service of personal assistant may appear in Belarus. This was reported to the press by consultant of the Department of Disability Affairs of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection Eva Zubkovskaya.

"The personal assistant service includes those services, which are currently provided by the assistant to visually impaired and people with disorders of the locomotor apparatus, as well as the assistant service for people with intellectual disabilities. The new social service will be comprehensive, it will be provided in a differentiated way depending on the availability of relatives. It will be developed as individually as possible, depending on the specific needs of the person with disabilities," said Eva Zubkovskaya.

The emergence of a new service is provided by a draft decree of the Council of Ministers on the modification of the state register of technical means of social rehabilitation, which also includes provisions for the possibility of independent purchase of rehabilitation equipment and receiving monetary compensation for it. "Such service is very popular among people with disabilities. For people with visual impairments the list of rehabilitation means will include a recorder, a player, a cell phone or a smartphone with software that synthesizes speech and navigation functions, a device for listening to sound literature. These are the basic tools. The decree envisages a number of other changes, including the expansion of the list of categories of disabled people entitled to be provided with technical means of rehabilitation free of charge or at a separate cost, as well as changes in social services," concluded the representative of the Ministry of Labor.