Kontakt 2007, 9(1):42-53 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2007.006

Personal assistance as a way to philosophy of independent lifeNursing

Beáta Balogová

Prešovská univerzita, Filozofická fakulta, Inštitút edukológie a sociálnej práce

The topic of the present contribution, which is aimed at public information in the field of the integration of handicapped persons into the life of the society, was formulated based on the General Declaration of Human Rights: The integration, as a tool serving the philosophy of independent life through the mediation of taking the advantage of the personal assistance. The principal method was the analysis of contemporary conditions and legal provisions forming the prerequisite for this independence. The wording of the "Law on the social assistance" No. 195/1998 Z. z. indicates that providing of the social assistance for the handicapped people is becoming unavoidable for the society. However, it is to emphasize that the citizen active participation is a prerequisite for granting the assistance. In this case, the social assistance is aimed at a moderation of the social poverty, providing of principal conditions of the life in the natural environment and prevention of causes of the origination, intensification and recurrence of disorders of the human mental and social development, which are assumptions for the integration and inclusion of the citizen into the society. All these provisions must be based on principles of the fairness, solidarity, subsidence and participation. The principle of the subsidence is of a particular importance, which should be understood as a form of the activation of people with health involvements and their beneficial interaction, with a delimited field of competences. Within the scope of this principle, each individual is due to help oneself and, if the individual is not able to do so, the help is implemented through the mediation of further institutions - family and/or other, state and non-state, subjects. However, on the other hand, conditions for the integration of the individuals should be provided, which may also be supplemented by the application of the further principle, participation. In the social policy, this principle is directed to a change in the individual or object of the social policy. This social policy subsequently leads to an empirical view, which is a particular case study of a handicapped citizen, which can help to achieve particular steps of the social assistance focused on the principal target: providing the assistance for a handicapped individual.

Keywords: Personal assistance; philosophy of independent life; health involvement; social work; handicap

Received: January 10, 2007; Accepted: April 9, 2007; Published: June 15, 2007  Show citation