In May and June 2017, at the initiative of The Regional Society for Support of People with Intellectual Disabilities with the support of The Bulgarian Center for Nonprofit Law (BCNL), an information campaign under the name “Tell a Story” took place in Vidin. The campaign aimed at disseminating information to the local community in Vidin on Supported Decision-Making /SDM/ as an alternative to the existing guardianship system for people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health problems, as well as the draft Law on Physical Entities and Support Measures, regulating the SDM process, the support measures foreseen and how will they be provided. Supported decision-making refers to a personal decision-making process through which support networks (from 2 to 4/5 persons) assist an adult with an intellectual, psychosocial or cognitive difficulty in planning his or her future life in the community as well as in making decisions about his/her personal life, health care and finances/property. Networks include people chosen by the disabled person to support him/her and include – family members, friends and community advocates. The campaign was called “Tell a story” because the information about the difference between Guardianship and Supported Decision-Making was presented through the eyes of 5 persons with intellectual disabilities, who participated in the pilot projects for SDM of the Bulgarian Association for People with Intellectual Disabilities /BAPID/, through their personal stories and experiences.

Ten pairs, including staff members and users of RSSPID – Vidin services visited 50 places, including local institutions, local government structures, schools, business representatives – local companies and entrepreneurs, shops, medical practices and others where they distributed informational materials and offered information to citizens on the current institute of “guardianship” and how it limits people with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health problems and the need to change the legislation regarding the legal capacity of these people and their access to justice.

Local citizens had the opportunity to get acquainted with the changes foreseen in the draft Law on Physical Entities and Support Measures and support the initiative or express their opinion by recording it in a book – The Diary of the Campaign, created by service users of The Regional Society for Support of People with Intellectual Disabilities /RSSPID/ – Vidin.

More information on Supported Decision-Making /SDM/ and The Physical Entities and Support Measures Act can be found at:

www.bapid.com

www.bcnl.org