Personal Assistance for Families with Disabled Children
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Published version
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2590873Utgivelsesdato
2018Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
Originalversjon
Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 2018, 20 (1), 266-276. http://doi.org/10.16993/sjdr.57Sammendrag
Personal assistance (PA) is seen as an important tool for empowerment, independence and participation
for disabled people, traditionally for adults. In Norway, PA was extended to families with disabled children
in 2006, but the extent so far is modest. The change meant that the parents could act as managers
for their children’s assistants. A central issue in this article is to what extent co-producing PA with the
municipality empowers the parents as family managers. The empirical basis is a study among Norwegian
parents with disabled children who receive PA. The data indicate that PA makes parents feel more
empowered and improves their control and coping. It also gives their children the benefit of both parental
care and increasing independence. However, in the decision-making process of granting and following
up PA, the parents also experience that they are not regarded as equal co-producers by the municipal
services.