A €10 million project for a new network of services for the social integration of people with disabilities was approved on Wednesday by the cabinet.
Deputy Welfare Minister Marilena Evangelou said the project would greatly contribute to the upgrading of the services, as part of reforms promoted to help people with disabilities.
The network will include eight services for the support in decision-making, trainers for people with disabilities, personal work aides, professionals for work integration, social escorts, sign language interpreters, supported living providers and early family support psychologists.
Some of the services were being introduced for the first time, namely decision-making advisers, trainers for people with disabilities, personal work aides and the psychologists.
Elaborating on the decision-making advisers, Evangelou said they would help people with disabilities obtain the necessary information to take decisions and would offer support in their implementation.
The trainers would identify needs and social skills, and would secure training, while the personal work aides would be responsible for transporting and escorting the disabled person to and from work and assist them in fulfilling their duties.
Social integration professionals would draft a plan for vocational rehabilitation and help the disabled person put together a curriculum vitae and make the necessary adjustments to the work environment.
The work of social escorts would be to accompany disabled people at various services and departments, as well as recreation activities, helping them communicate and come into contact with other people.
Evangelou said sign language interpreters would help disabled people communicate, supported living providers would help people live independently and thus avoid being institutionalised and psychologists would provide training and counselling to parents and other members of the family of a preschool-aged child with disabilities.
The deputy minister said the Cyprus confederation of organisations representing disabled individuals would undertake the decision-making advice services and that gradually 80 such advisers would be employed to support about 4,000 adult people with disabilities. Other organisations would also provide social support, personal assistance, training and vocational integration.
She added that this reform has been a long-standing demand and would make things fairer regarding allowances and the minimum guaranteed income, by dissociating the two and providing them irrespective of each other.
“We will incorporate all benefits and services for people with disabilities under one law, we will decouple disability benefits from the minimum guaranteed income,” Evangelou added.
The budget for 2026 includes €26 million for welfare issues and by 2028 €106 million will have been spent.
