Against the background of revising and adapting the current regulations for Personal Assistance, the province of Lower Austria commissioned the NPO & SE Competence Center to carry out this project.
In a first step, calculation models and a comparison of the federal states were carried out, which were presented and discussed in an accompanying working group with self-advocates, representatives of the service-providing organisations and peer counselling centres as well as the province of Lower Austria.
In the course of the process it again became apparent that the data situation on people with disabilities is extremely unsatisfactory and that primary surveys to determine the number of potential persons who would be eligible for personal assistance services are urgently needed.
Instead of a survey limited to a rather small target group (potential assistance recipients), it was decided to conduct a more comprehensive survey to identify people with physical handicaps. This was also done against the background of a recommendation by the Regional Court of Audit, which stated in June 2017 with regard to social space planning in Lower Austria that an analysis of the current situation and planning for the next few years should be carried out for people with physical or sensory impairments.
Accordingly, it was decided on the part of the province of Lower Austria to interrupt the process on Personal Assistance for people with disabilities and to initiate a more comprehensive process on prognosis and needs calculations for physically and/or sensory impaired persons.
Thus, the research project to determine the number of people with physical and sensory disabilities in Lower Austria and their support needs was launched. More information on the project and the main results can be found here.
Since, in accordance with the government agreement of the coalition of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Green Party (Grünen) for the years 2020 to 2024, talks on the creation of uniform federal framework conditions for personal assistance have been initiated in the meantime, a new regulation of personal assistance in Lower Austria or a continuation of the project was discontinued at the end of 2020.

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