FRA Opinions Independent living part I

Realising the right of persons with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community requires implementing meaningful and sustainable deinstitutionalisation. FRA evidence shows that one crucial starting point is a strategy on or covering deinstitutionalisation. Previous FRA opinions call for disabled persons’ organisations to be closely involved in developing such policies.

Deinstitutionalisation in the spirit of the CRPD involves transforming support services for persons with disabilities, so that a range of individualised support in the community is available. This has major implications for the planning and delivery of such services. This report underlines that, regardless of the national approach to commissioning and administering community- based services, achieving deinstitutionalisation requires coordination between national, regional and local authorities, both within and across different sectors.

Deinstitutionalisation requires that the phasing out of institutional services be coupled with developing accessible support services in the community. This entails a cross-sectoral approach that integrates both specialised services for persons with disabilities and general services available to the local community as a whole. Deinstitutionalisation is also likely to require developing new and innovative support services that are adaptable to individual needs.