LEGAL REGULATIONS FOR PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES IN CROATIA
Mirjana Dobranoviæ, msc (med.), CUPDPA
President
According to the Census of 2001, of
4,437,460 inhabitants of Croatia
9.68% are persons with disabilities (429,421 persons).
As regards mobility, the status is as
follows:
fully mobile –
324,512 persons with disabilities (75.57% of the total number of persons
with disabilities)
permanently restrictedly mobile using a cane, crutches or walking
frame – 85,220 persons with disabilities (19.85% of the total number of persons with
disabilities)
mobile when in wheelchairs – 7,201
(1.68% of the total number of persons with
disabilities
permanently immobile – 12,488
(2.91% of the total number of persons with
disabilities)
The legal system of Croatia for persons with
disabilities is implemented through 250 laws, sub-acts and decisions, as well as applicable international
documents. Only the most important regulations are listed below per activities:
Constitution of the republic of Croatia; 2001 census act; Register of persons
with disabilities act; Health insurance; Education; Labour relations,
employment; Pension insurance; Social welfare; Institutions; Taxes; Customs
duties; State budget of the republic of Croatia; Ex-service and civilian war
invalids; Special protection of patriotic war veterans; Establishment and
organization of associations; Humanitarian aid; Non-combatant military service;
Games of chance; Decentralization; Sports; Various fees; Foundations.
They are applied to regulate the following
rights:
I. BENEFITS BASED ON UNION
MEMBERSHIP
Telephone subscription – TV
subscription – Free public transport ticket – Membership benefits in the
Automobile Association – Assistance to members – Advice on flat adjustment –
Theatre tickets – Other services.
II. ENTITLEMENTS BASED ON
DISABILITY
1. IMPAIRMENT, DISABILITY AND
HANDICAP
Assessment of
physical impairment – What is impairment? – What is disability? – What is
handicap?
2. HEALTH INSURANCE
Right to
health care – Exemption from participation in charges for medical services –
Free choice of physician – Medical panels – Health care at home – Hospital
treatment – Hospital rehabilitation – Orthopedic and other aids – Right to
medicines – Right to pecuniary compensations – Supplementary health insurance –
Private health insurance – Penal liability – Other regulations.
3. PENSION INSURANCE
Acquiring a
pension – Disability and disabled workers – Occupational rehabilitation –
Disability pension – Physical disability allowance – Extended length of service
for retirement – Travelling expenses compensation – Other rights.
4. CHILDRENÂ’S ALLOWANCE
Right to
childrenÂ’s allowance – Benefits for children with disabilities.
5. SOCIAL WELFARE
Social
welfare user – Right to counselling – Assistance in overcoming difficulties –
Support allowance – Rent payment – Non-recurring assistance – Allowance for a
care provider – Home care – Personal disability benefit – Training for
independent life and employment – Institutional care – Other forms of help
– War veteransÂ’ benefits – Care of war veterans.
6. EDUCATION
Preschool
education – Elementary school education – Secondary school education.
7. EMPLOYMENT
Employee
protection – Temporary work disablement – Leave or shorter hours – Benefits to
parents of disabled children – Stimulating employment.
8. MOBILITY
Space
standards for the disabled – Benefits for 4 trips – Exemption from annual road
tax – Free use of highways – Car insurance discount – Accessibility sign – Free
parking – Access into city centre – Traffic signs for the disabled – Driving
licence.
9. TAX AND OTHER BENEFITS
Tax-free
revenues – Increased tax deduction – Exemption from local vehicle tax –
Incentives for employing persons with disabilities – Tax and contribution
benefits – 0% VAT on aids – Exemption from customs taxes on imported cars –
Exemption from customs duty – Exemption from local sojourn fees.
GOVERNMENT BODIES FOR PERSONS WITH
DISABILITIES
Government committee for persons with
disabilities
Government institute for the protection
of families, maternity and youth
Ministry of Labour and Social
Welfare
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Croatian Patriotic War
Veterans
Croatian Public Health Institute,
Register of persons with disabilities
In terms of the number and type of legal
regulations, the Croatian legislation for persons with disabilities is fully
satisfactory. There are, however, certain difficulties in the application of
statutory regulations either by the government bodies or due to their abuse by
citizens who are not entitled to benefits or due to uninformed persons with
disabilities. For this reason, an increasing role in informing citizens with
special needs is assigned to associations of persons with disabilities, which
have to care for the quality of life of their members.
A positive example from the practice:
Architectural Counselling Centre
«For the Quality of Life without
Barriers»
Since we are an association of persons
with physical disabilities, spatial barriers are among our major interests and
activities. Recognizing the everyday problems of persons with impaired mobility,
we have made an attempt to provide them with professional support by
establishing our Architectural Counselling Centre for persons with disabilities,
which started to work on 17 December 2001. The Centre is conceived as a
counselling office, unique of this kind in the Republic of Croatia, where
persons with disabilities as well as all interested citizens can get
professional advice and information about elimination of space barriers, and
improvement of the quality of life and everyday environment of persons with
disabilities. The Centre also provides counselling to associations of persons
with disabilities and helps them in their work.
The Centre is staffed by young
architects doing non-combatant military service. In this respect we have
established very good collaboration with the Ministry of Justice. The Centre is
supplied with good-quality technical-electronic equipment (PC, scanner, digital
camera) and the relevant technical literature on adapted construction and
catalogues of suppliers of such equipment. Contacts have also been established
to ensure an adequate professional-consulting basis for reliable information in
all spheres of the CentreÂ’s competence. These contacts primarily involve
different services and persons dealing with construction problems – Ministry of
Environmental Protection and Physical Planning and Ministry of Public Works,
Reconstruction and Construction, numerous local administration and
self-government bodies, and professional institutions –Faculty of Architecture,
Architectural Society as well as some independent architects. Through
CUPDPA local associations or directly, the Centre has established collaboration
with different local administration and self-government bodies all over Croatia.
Improving the quality of life and the
living environment of persons with disabilities is a painstaking and often
unrewarding job; however, the continuing efforts and professional and competent
work of the Centre have brought very good and encouraging results. Through its
media appearances and counselling activities the Centre has made an appreciable
contribution to the awareness of the importance of spatial accessibility to
persons with disabilities. The Centre has been presented to the public in some
ten media appearances, numerous texts in daily papers and professional journals,
and at 5 gatherings. Flyers and posters have been produced to inform the target
population – elderly, infirm and poorly mobile citizens, pregnant women, mothers
with children in prams, etc. The work of the Centre is mainly focused on various
conceptual designs for persons with disabilities. In the last one-year period
the Centre has received a large number of inquiries and requests for help with
remodelling the living quarters of persons with disabilities. Some 80 projects
were done, 50 of which are architectural conceptual solutions in the narrower
sense, while the remaining 30 involve various consultations about planning or
execution of works, equipment supply or logistics. It is noteworthy that there
is a 50-50 ratio of projects for adaptations of public institutions or areas
(theatres, beaches, pharmacies, railway stations, promenades, schools,
faculties, etc.) and those for individual users (mainly adaptations of flats or
entrances to buildings).
The Centre is the only counselling
service of this kind in the Republic of Croatia where counselling and adaptation
solutions are available free of charge. It is important that the Centre operates
as part of the Croatian Union of Physically Disabled Persons Associations,
offering a strong logistic support to this national union, as well as to the
network of its members – local associations, thus promoting the activities of
the Centre and continually informing the disabled population.
Conclusion
It is clearly evident that, with its
continuing professional and public activities, the Architectural Counselling
Centre has contributed to the awareness of the need for full integration of
persons with disabilities into everyday life. The deftly designed concept of the
Centre, which took advantage of the legal possibility to engage young architects
doing non-combatant army service, enabled minimal costs and investment into the
necessary equipment and technical literature, and resulted in maximum efficiency
and outstanding results.
The large number of unadapted public
institutions and areas are another argument for the need of continuing the work
of the Centre. A very significant project is that of networking and linking all
interested subjects and individuals over the CUPDPA Web pages. The project is
aimed at providing better information about the problems of spatial
accessibility to the profession (architecture and civil engineering) and to
potential investors, but especially to persons with disabilities, many of them
being computer literate but of restricted mobility.