Bulgaria : Options for Including Functioning into Disability Status Assessment (English)

This note was prepared as part of the project “Strengthening Disability System in Bulgaria” implemented by the World Bank with funding from, and in collaboration with, the European Commission's Directorate General for Structural Reform Support - DG REFORM. The specific objective of the project is to support the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) of Bulgaria to strengthen and further develop its disability system, including by supporting the MLSP in strengthening the individual comprehensive assessment of functioning and needs of persons with disabilities and related administrative processed. All persons with disabilities certified in Bulgaria to have a disability are required to undergo the individual needs assessment to access benefits targeted at persons with disabilities. The certificate of disability serves as a basis on which the needs assessment is conducted. It is therefore very important that these two processes are harmonized in their respective approaches to disability. This note presents the results of the statistical analysis of the pilot data set and recommendations on options for including functioning into disability status assessment. A comprehensive description and review of the current disability status assessment and the individual needs assessment systems can be found Chapters 3 and 4, respectively.