This project aims to support Italy in the design, development and implementation of reforms that will increase the adequacy of disability assessment and protection system in Italy, allowing for greater participation and inclusion of people with disabilities.
The project is developed by the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, as well as funded by the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented in cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) and the Office for policies in support of people with disabilities of the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Implementation period: 2021-2023
Download the full project description
(Italian version)
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What's the issue?
Fragmented legislation affects Italy’s ability to recognise functioning capacities of persons with disabilities, to provide adequate support and to develop effective inclusive policies across sectors, such as in labour market, education, health and social policies. Various attempts undertaken in the past decade to fix these problems have been unsuccessful. In the absence of up-to-date national reference legislation, regions have adopted their own approaches, further contributing to large differences across the country.
Disability assessment is outdated, with a number of definitions of disability in place all based on a medical concept. Through the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified in 2009, Italy is expected to align its definition of disability to ICF standards and harmonise the assessment across systems and regions. The fragmentation of disability assessment is mirrored in a complex and equally fragmented system of social protection for persons with disabilities, with a large number of different tax deductions and welfare benefits, depending on the type and degree of disability and the region in which people live. This system fragmentation results in considerable inequalities across types of disabilities and regions, with inadequatly low benefits in some and undesirable duplication of entitlements in other cases.
Also for these reasons, disability reform is now a priority for the Italian Government, which has obtained the technical support of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support together with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to:
- improve the legal definition of disability so as to comply with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF);
- increase the capacity of social assistance to reduce poverty and ensure adequate standards of living for people with disabilities.
Project activities
The OECD will develop the project in 4 phases and perform the following activities:
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