Recommendations to the Bulgarian government

A. Community living and choice

1. Adopt an immediate moratorium on new admissions to social care institutions in order to stop filling up vacancies. Instead, local governments should be required to find alternatives for each person on the waiting list.
2. Adopt legislation without further delay to abolish all forms of guardianship in line with Article 12, CRPD. Legislation should also provide recognition for supported decision-making models based on relationships of trust and giving primacy to the will and preferences of persons supported.
3. Coordinate national and regional action on deinstitutionalisation and the abolition of guardianship through the designated Article 33(1) government focal point, and publish annual reports on progress made.
4. Abandon plans which use Bulgarian and EU financing to maintain, renovate or expanding existing institutions. Instead, use available funding to develop individualised community-based support services to the maximum extent possible.

B. Access to individualised support services

1. Ensure that people with mental disabilities have equal access to a range of individualised services, including in-home support and assistance, and community mental health teams, which are in reach of all people with mental disabilities across Bulgaria. This should inform national budgetary priorities, moving resources from institutions to the development of individualised support services.
2. Ensure that all people with mental disabilities and their families can access specialised support and funding, including personal budgets, to purchase professional, individualised support where such services are not provided by government.

C. Access to mainstream services

1. Conduct accessibility assessments of mainstream public services (including schools, healthcare and employment support) with a specific view to identifying barriers for people with mental disabilities. The assessments should inform budgeted plans for reform which should be published.
2. Develop a plan to ensure that people with mental disabilities can access mainstream community services, including health, education and employment, on an equal basis with others. In achieving this goal, the government should prioritise the accessibility of all services to people with mental disabilities. The government should also adopt a programme to increase the employment rate of people with mental disabilities and facilitate their access to the labour market.
3. Have a clear strategy on providing for inclusive education which is responsive of the needs of children with mental disabilities, including through the provision of supports which enable them to access mainstream educational settings.

D. Transition from institutions to the community

1. Rationalise the various plans and proposals on deinstitutionalisation of services into an overarching and inclusive programme of action for all people with disabilities. Place a clear, five year time limit for completing the process, linked to annual quantitative and qualitative indicators including closure of institutions, developing specialised community-based services and accommodation, and improving access to mainstream services.
2. The consolidated strategy should contain a detailed analysis of the way in which government funding is currently spend on disability-based services (including institutions), and reallocate future funds away from financing institutions and towards funding community-based services. Annual reports should be made public on the way in which public finances are spent.
3. Develop individualised transition plans for all people with mental disabilities currently living in institutions. The plans must be clearly and explicitly based on the will and preferences of the person concerned. The plans should provide genuine options for living in the community, including private or family accommodation, identify individualised supports required (and how they will be provided), and should have clear timeframes.

E. Access to justice, monitoring and public awareness

1. Establish a legal right for people with disabilities to live independently in the community.
2. Ensure that effective and independent complaints mechanisms are made directly available to people with mental disabilities where their right to independent living in the community has been breached. This includes complaints about the failure to provide individualised services or community-living options, and failure to make mainstream services accessible.
3. Ensure that legal remedies are available directly to people with mental disabilities where independent complaints mechanisms have failed. The initiation of legal proceedings must never be determined by guardians or other substitute decision-makers.
4. Collect comprehensive disaggregated data - including statistical and research data - to ensure evidence-based policy and action by government authorities in advancing independent living in the community. The data collected should comply with the requirements of Article 31 of the CRPD and should be published on an annual basis, and identify:
   1. Numbers of people with mental disabilities, including people with intellectual disabilities, people with mental health issues (psycho-social disabilities), age and gender breakdowns, etc.;
   2. The numbers and types of accommodation they live in (institutional and community-based);
   3. Full list of institutions, their size and capacity, breakdown of funding (including funding sources), admissions, and lengths of admissions and discharges;
   4. The types of individualised services available, their geographical scope, funding, and how many people access them; and
   5. Analysis of the numbers of people with mental disabilities who access mainstream services (including education, healthcare and employment assistance), and analysis of the funding of reasonable accommodations.
5. Implement a strategy to raise public awareness about the human rights of people with mental disabilities in conformity with Article 8, CRPD. The strategy must be clear on the concrete steps the government is going to take to reduce stigma and combat discrimination.
6. The criminal law should be amended to classify the targeting of a victim on the basis of their disability as a hate crime, and holding perpetrators accountable. Crime statistics should be reported annually on the prevalence of hate crime against people with disabilities, the investigation of allegations and their disposal.