The Right to Live Independently in Sweden

Swedish Personal Assistance Policy

Personal assistance has been described as ‘a revolution’ and is considered the most important achievement of the disability reform. The system of cash payments towards eligible individuals created a competitive market for personal assistance services consisting of about 15,900 assistance users, 230 local governments and over 1,100 private entities, these last employing a total of 60,000 (full-time equivalent) personal assistants.

It enabled assistance users and their family members to return to work and provides jobs to people who often would otherwise live on unemployment insurance. It has been estimated that taxpayers have saved a minimum of SEK29 billion since 1994, compared to the costs of local governments’ services!

Visit www.independentliving.org or www.enil.eu to know more about the independent living movement