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Actions on human scale

ASPA, Housing Services Foundation, Finland

ASPA is a foundation for housing and housing services for persons with disabilities and mental health problems. It was founded by 13 organisations in this field.

  • Finnish Association of People with Mobility Disabilities
  • Finnish Epilepsy Association
  • Finnish Association on Mental Retardation FAMR
  • The Finnish Association of Societies for Persons with Mental Handicap
  • The Association for the Welfare of the Swedish-speaking Mentally Retarded in Finland (FDUV).
  • Service Foundation for the Mentally Disabled
  • The Finnish Association of the Deaf
  • Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired
  • Finnish CP Association
  • The Finnish MS Society
  • The Finnish Parkinson Association
  • Finnish Central Association for Mental Health
  • The Friends of the Young Association

 

ASPA was founded in 1995 and now 2003 the number of clients is 329 and staff ca 250. The plan for next year is to make housing opportunities for 429 clients and staff will be ca 350 professionals. So you can see ASPA is growing very fast. ASPA’s have basic values for the work they do are:

  • To respect the person
  • To create safeness
  • To work in a professional way

 

ASPA’s tasks are:

  • to find apartments /housing for disabled persons
  • to arrange housing services
  • to develop a voluntary support –system
  • to collect information at national level of housing and spread information about it

 

Important criteria when ASPA seeks for housing opportunities:

  • Most important is to check environment where the housing/apartement is placed
  • The easy accessibility of the service
  • Flexible workway
  • Safeness especially for persons who need 24 hours support
  • To reach staff
  • In the neighbourhood there is a joint space where people can go to
  • The own integrity and opportunities for mutual activities

 

ASPA have agreements with municipalities and make arrangements with the individual at the heart of it.  They make up a planning to plan (ahead) the person’s move into a new service.  Therefore ASPA puts together an individual serviceplan (which is obliged according to the finish law conclusive evidence, You must follow the things which is written there).  The support varies from a few hours a week to 24 hours a day.  It is also important to arrange things in a flexible way, in a safe way and take into account the persons right to empowerment.  ASPA supports the person to be as independent as possible.  That is why it is important to find an environment which adapt best to the person (taken into account the individual, the aids he/she needs, necessary changes in the apartment and the accessibility). This in order to have a design-for-all environment with technical aids which enables the client to live as independent as possible and enjoy his/her freedom from staff and other professionals.  Technical aids can enhance the person’s feelings of safeness, this if the person want to use technical aids, and we have to make sure that these technicalities do not diminish the persons opportunities for natural social contacts.  Daily life activities are an important part of life especially if the client can be the master of his own life.

 

ASPA-model 

The apartements are in a ordinary environment in the society, in the municipality. Apartements are near each other, but not too many in the same area. The structure of the house and the appartements are adapted to the needs of the person who lives there. The joint space central for everybody, this can be an apartment or a house, is the central place for the staff and a place where the disabled persons can meet, eat together or do other things together. A place to meet others, if the persons wants this. In Finland there are a lot of variations of these kinds of combinations of housing and appartements, which take in account the client. The client is already involved when the preliminary planning starts. ASPA collect also a lot of information regarding alternative housing schemes, realizes mapping of housing provision for people with disabilities and develops many projects. ASPA also organises education for their own staff members.

 

Contactinformation:

Marjaliisa Vahtera (Development director)
ASPA
Viljatie 4A
00700 Helsinki
Finland.
Phone : +35893478430 fax +358934784360
E-mail: marjaliisa.vahtera@aspa.fi

 

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This Knowledge Centre was developed by EASPD, the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities with the support of the European Commission and in particular the Active Citizenship Program and the PROGRESS Program.