Personal assistance corresponds to a specialised independent life support service, through which support is made available to the person with a disability or incapacity to perform activities that, due to the limitations arising from their interaction with the conditions of the environment, they cannot perform on their own.
It is up to the person with a disability or incapacity himself/herself or to whom he/she legally represents, to request personal assistance, through the formal expression of interest, with a CAVI of his/her area of residence.
Personal assistance can be provided in several areas:
- support activities in the fields of hygiene, food, health maintenance and personal care;
- domestic care support activities;
- travel support activities;
- communication mediation activities;
- work-based support activities;
- activities to support the attendance of vocational training;
- activities to support higher education and research attendance;
- support activities in culture, leisure and sport;
- support activities for active job-search;
- support activities for the creation and development of supportive social networks;
- activities in support of participation and citizenship;
- activities in support of decision-making, including the collection and interpretation of information necessary for decision-making.
Who are the recipients of personal assistance (Article 10 of Decree-Law No 129/2017 of 9 October 2017)?
- Persons with disabilities certified by Medical Certificate of Multipurpose Disability or Disability Card of the Armed Forces, with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 60% and age equal to or greater than 16 years;
- Persons with intellectual disabilities, persons with mental illness and persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder, provided that they are 16 years of age or older, may receive personal assistance, regardless of the degree of disability they have.
- Persons with disabilities aged 16 and over who are covered by compulsory education can only receive personal assistance outside school activities.
- Majors declared prohibited may benefit from personal assistance, and their active participation in the process of forming the will and in the enforcement of their decisions must be ensured, without prejudice to the legal regime of incapacities and respective provision.