The Change in Disability Assessment System in Armenia

The newspaper ‘Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun’ reports that there has always been an issue regarding the inability of disabled individuals to make decisions about their daily lives. Therefore, it is planned to impose a ban on discrimination based on disability by valuing the introduction of the personal assistant institute and developing processes related to the transition to a new system. It is noteworthy that there are 189,485 registered persons with disabilities in Armenia, of which more than 800,000 are children.

The Armenian government is not only reviewing but also completely changing the disability assessment system. What does this imply and how will it change or facilitate the process of disabled individuals feeling like full members of society? Gemaftin Gasparyan, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, clarifies this for ‘HH’.

“Currently, there are three types of disability categories in effect, as well as a status for disabled children, which are determined by the medical-social expert commission based on government decisions and criteria. The disability category implies certain health insurance and a pension of 25,500 drams. Clearly, in our logic, the pension is allocated to overcome functional limitations. It is not a benefit or social payment; rather, it is provided to overcome functional limitations. This type of assistance, according to our observations, does not individualize the needs of disabled individuals nor ensures their social inclusion and the process of overcoming functional limitations,” said Gemaftin Gasparyan.

According to him, the new system excludes the existence of medical-social expert commissions and will conduct functional assessments in accordance with global gold standards, by multidisciplinary commissions. As a result of the assessment, individual services will be created, through which disabled individuals will be able to overcome their functional limitations. The new system will be directed towards the assessment of individual needs. More details can be found in today’s edition of the newspaper.