Social Care for the Disabled in the Republic of Croatia

Ovaj se rad bavi mogućom strategijom prevladavanja nepovoljnog položaja invalida u Hrvatskoj. Pri tome se osobito naglašava jačanje temeljnih ljudskih i socijalnih prava, suzbijanje diskriminacije po bilo kojoj osnovi, uvođenje načela supsidijarnosti, aktiviranje civilnog društva te humanitarnih, filantropskih i drugih organizacija, redefiniranje programa i metoda osposobljavanja invalida u svrhu proširenja njihova znanja i usvajanja novih vještina, primjerenih suvremenom trendu razvoja društva. Pri tome se zagovara potreba izgradnje fleksibilnog sustava socijalne skrbi koji će kontinuirano pratiti promjene u okolini te omogućiti brzo reagiranje na njih, kao i prevenciju socijalne isključenosti invalida.The current social crisis of Croatian society has hit particularly hard the disabled, their families and their position in society. The disabled are often the last to obtain work and are among the first to lose it, which excludes them socially, and “condemns” them to languish within their families and on the periphery of society, thus becoming the objects of social welfare. This study deals with a possible strategy to overcome such a position, with particular emphasis placed on the following: the strengthening of fundamental human and social rights, the suppression of any kind of discrimination, the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity, the activation of civil society and of humanitarian, philanthropic and other organisations, the redefinition of programmes and methods for training the disabled, so that they could broaden their knowledge and acquire new skills in line with the contemporary development trends of society. The need to build a flexible system of social welfare is also advocated. Such a system would continuously monitor and register changes in the environment, enable prompt reactions to be made to these changes, and would prevent the social exclusion of the disabled. Finally, conclusions are drawn that are relevant to the concept and realisation of social care for the disabled, that is, programmes and methods to stimulate the training, employment and inclusion of the disabled in the life of an open social environment