The Public Defender of Georgia is responding to the request relating to the increase in the amount of a social package intended for persons with disabilities and once again calls on the Government of Georgia to take all measures for the timely transition to a fair system of granting disability status.

The Public Defender of Georgia has been talking about shortcomings in the so-called medical model of disability assessment for years, which is directly related to the challenges of adapting existing programmes to the individual needs of persons with disabilities.

The transition to a new assessment model that focuses on a person’s psychological and social factors in addition to the medical assessment is still delayed.

The social package defined by the current model, in addition to not being tailored to the individual needs of persons, is faulty as its amount fails to satisfy even the elementary needs of persons with disabilities, especially amid the rising prices, rising inflation and pandemics, especially given that some persons with disabilities have been left out of the anti-crisis economic plan developed by the state in response to the challenges created by the novel corona virus pandemic.

The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the Government of Georgia and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia:

• To ensure that the initiated reform of the system of granting disability status is carried out in the shortest time possible;
• Before changing the assessment system, ensure that the needs of all categories of persons with disabilities are met by providing them with a decent and adequate social package;
• In the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic, conduct a comprehensive study of the needs of persons with disabilities; inter alia, develop a specific action plan to address the existing