Italy
Country
Topic:
disability is steady or progressive; it causes difficulties in learning, relationships or integration
into working life and it is serious enough to lead to social disadvantage or social exclusion.
According to the nature and severity of her/his disability, to the general individual ability and the
efficiency of rehabilitation therapies, the handicapped person has the right of access to the
various services fixed by the law.
A single or multiple disability is to be considered serious when, taking into account the age of
the handicapped, it diminishes personal autonomy, thus requiring the provision of permanent
assistance. Serious conditions have priority on programmes and provisions of public services.
The Local Health Authority (Aziende sanitarie locali - ASL) through its provision of public
services gives precedence to evaluation, through special medical commissions, of the disability,
the need for a permanent assistance and the general ability of the handicapped. The
commissions include a social worker and an expert on that kind of handicap, both of them
employed by the above mentioned Local Health Authoritys (Aziende sanitarie locali - ASL).