Glossary

Centre for social rehabilitation and integration

A centre for social rehabilitation and integration refers to a set of social services including rehabilitation services, social and legal consultations, educational and professional training and orientation, and the development and implementation of individual programmes for social adaptation.^[94]

CRPD

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) is an international human rights treaty which is binding law on the governments of countries which have ratified it. The CRPD obliges these countries to “promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities”.^[95] It was adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2008. To date, it has been ratified by 150 countries. Bulgaria ratified the CRPD on 22 March 2012.

CRPD Committee

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) is an 18-person expert body responsible for monitoring the compliance of countries with the provisions set out in the CRPD. The Committee is responsible for offering interpretations about the CRPD, and giving guidance to governments about how to implement it.

Concluding observations

Each country which has ratified the CRPD is required to submit reports to the CRPD Committee two years after ratifying the Convention, and thereafter every four years (Article 35, CRPD). The report must set out how the country is implementing Convention rights. After examining a country’s report, the CRPD Committee makes recommendations to that county, and the document in which it does so are called “concluding observations”.

Day care centre

Day care centre offers services for users during the day, including delivery of meals and satisfying the daily, health, educational and rehabilitation needs of the users. Assistance is provided in organising leisure time activities and in the establishment of social contacts.^[96]

Domestic (home) assistant

The domestic assistant is a person providing assistance to the service user in maintaining the household, cooking and personal hygiene.^[97]

Family-type residential centre

Family-type residential centres provide social services in a so-called family-type environment for a limited number of persons, but no more than 15.^[98]

Guardianship (plenary and partial)

Judges in Bulgaria can place a person with a mental disability under guardianship if the person is assessed as being unable to manage his or her affairs. In Bulgaria, this can be either full (plenary) guardianship, where all decision-making rights are removed, or partial, where decision-making is restricted.^[99] In Bulgaria, this means that the person under guardianship can only make decisions with the consent of their guardian.

Homes for adults with intellectual disabilities
Homes for adults with psycho-social disabilities
Homes for adults with dementia

Homes for adults with disabilities are institutions providing social services to people with “moderate, severe or profound mental retardation” based on the diagnosis of an expert.^[100] Home for adults with psycho-social disabilities are also institutions providing social services to people with mental health issues on the basis of a diagnosis.^[101] Likewise, homes for adults with dementia are institutions, with placement being based on an ‘expert decision’.^[102]

Homes for children with intellectual disabilities

Homes for children with intellectual disabilities are specialised institutions providing social services to children with “moderate, severe or profound mental retardation” based on an ‘expert’s decision’.^[103]

Homes for medical and social care for children

Homes for medical and social care for children are registered under the Hospitals Act as "other hospitals". In these homes, medical and other specialists carry out continuous medical supervision and provide specific care for children up to 3 years of age with chronic illnesses and medical and social problems. Children with a severe disability children can be placed in such institutions up to the age of 8. The placement of children into such institutions is supposed to occur as a last resort where it is deemed not possible to leave the child in the family environment.^[104]

Legal capacity

Legal capacity refers to the capacity to bear rights and the capacity to act and have decisions recognised by the law.^[105] A person under guardianship does not have their legal capacity. The recognition of the validity of a person’s decisions can cover all areas of life, including financial and property affairs, residence rights, employment, marriage, parenthood, sexual and reproductive rights, inheritance, voting and holding public office.

‘People with mental disabilities’

By ‘people with mental disabilities’ MDAC means people with intellectual, developmental, cognitive, and/or psychosocial disabilities. 

‘People with psycho-social (mental health) disabilities’ and ‘people with mental health issues’

People with psycho-social disabilities are those who experience mental health issues or mental illness, and/or who identify as mental health consumers, users of mental health services, survivors of psychiatry, or mad. These are not mutually exclusive groups. People with psycho-social disabilities may also identify, or be identified as, having intellectual, developmental or cognitive disabilities.

‘People with intellectual disabilities’

People with intellectual disabilities generally have greater difficulty than most people with intellectual and adaptive functioning due to a long-term condition that is present at birth or before the age of eighteen. Developmental disability includes intellectual disability, and also people identified as having developmental challenges including cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Cognitive disability refers to difficulties with learning and processing information and can be associated with acquired brain injury, stroke and dementias including Alzheimer’s disease. These are not mutually exclusive groups. Many people with intellectual, developmental or cognitive disabilities may also identify, or be identified as, having psycho-social disabilities.

Personal assistant

Personal assistants, in Bulgaria, are those providing permanent care services to a child or adult with permanent disability, or to a seriously ill person, for the purposes of satisfying their normal daily needs.^[106]

Personal budget

A personal budget is an amount of money provided to a person with a disability by the state with the purpose that they can purchase the types of individualised support services they require. The aim of personal budgets are to enable people with mental disabilities to have greater control over the support they get and the way it is provided.

‘Protected home’

Protected homes are forms of group homes for people with disabilities, serviced by professionals.^[107] They are presented as alternative housing options to institutions. However, in reality, they often provide no greater opportunities for people with disabilities to live independently in the community and reflect an institutional model of care. Access to community-based services is not guaranteed to all potential users and the quality of care provided has been reported to be low. Users’ opinions on the development of services are not sought or taken into account.

Reasonable accommodation

Reasonable accommodation means the necessary and appropriate adjustments and modifications which should be provided to people with disabilities to ensure they can exercise their rights. For example, this could mean providing support assistants to children with intellectual disabilities so that they can access mainstream, inclusive educational environments. In respect of employment, it could mean providing easy-to-read information to employees. It is a right guaranteed by the CRPD.^[108]

Social assistant

The social assistant is a person providing a set of services, including social work for users. They can undertake a number of roles, including organising leisure time or working with people with disabilities to establish social contacts.^[109]

Transitional home

Transitional homes are temporary housing arrangements in which people are supported to develop the skills to live independently with the aid of professionals, with the purpose of transitioning them out of specialised institutions and into the community.^[110]