Seoul City Conducts Comprehensive Survey on the Independence Status of 700 Deinstitutionalized Disabled Individuals

Verification of Policy Effects from August to September

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will conduct a full survey targeting 700 people with disabilities who have left residential facilities to verify the appropriateness of the deinstitutionalization process, community settlement status, quality of life, satisfaction, and other effects of deinstitutionalization policies.

On the 18th, Seoul announced that it will conduct a self-reliance status survey of people with disabilities who have left institutions for two months from August to September to review the achievements and issues of past deinstitutionalization policies and to establish an effective "deinstitutionalization process."

The subjects of this full survey are 700 people with disabilities who have left residential facilities since the deinstitutionalization policy began in 2009. The city will check the appropriateness of the admission and discharge process, living and health conditions, and satisfaction with deinstitutionalization among them.

The survey will be conducted by pairs of social welfare officials from the city and district governments and personnel from specialized survey agencies visiting the homes of people with disabilities or local community centers for interviews. They will listen to 35 questions across six areas including the admission and discharge process of residential facilities for people with disabilities, housing environment, healthcare and health, daily life, and independent living. The city plans to use the survey results as basic data for policies such as the "3rd Basic Plan for Deinstitutionalization" to be established within the year.

Meanwhile, prior to the full survey, in February, Seoul conducted a preliminary survey targeting 38 people with disabilities who had left residential facilities and were living in supported housing, covering the appropriateness of the discharge process, communication level, medical and health management status, and independent living status. As a result of the survey, the city reaffirmed that while it is appropriate to support people with disabilities who have sufficient decision-making ability and self-reliance capacity to deinstitutionalize and settle in the community, it is even more necessary to provide more specialized care services for people with severe disabilities who require 24-hour care.

Based on the preliminary survey results, Seoul plans to expand the survey to cover all deinstitutionalized people with disabilities residing in Seoul. Through this, the goal is to properly verify the effects of deinstitutionalization policies, such as whether there are procedural issues in the deinstitutionalization process, whether people have settled well in the community after deinstitutionalization, and whether they are satisfied with their lives after deinstitutionalization.

Lee Su-yeon, Director of the Welfare Policy Office of Seoul, said, "Through this full survey, we will grasp the self-reliance status of people with disabilities who have left institutions so far and reflect it in policy formulation, promoting balanced policies so that both people with disabilities who have left institutions and those residing in facilities can lead happy lives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.