Current Status and Challenges of Activity Assistance Services for People with Disabilities as a Care System

Abstract

Activity Assistance Services for people with disabilities (AASPD) aims to provide activity support to individuals with disabilities for whom it is difficult to make it through daily living on their own, thereby alleviating the burden on their families. Modeled on the ‘independent living paradigm’ since its inception in Korea, AASPD places emphasis on the normalization of individuals with disabilities through enhancing user choice, control, and self-determination. In terms of expenditure, AASPD has rapidly expanded in the past 10 years. However, there remain areas needing improvement in terms of the use and provision of the services. Individuals with disabilities call for care services that are attuned to their needs. AASPD needs enhancement in its quality so that it can better serve to achieve the objectives it was first created to accomplish: supporting individuals with disabilities in their daily living activities and easing the caregiving burden on their families. In light of the public attention revolving in the wake of COVID-19 around the need for a shift to “care state” and the growing demand for the improvement of the quality of daily activities assistance services as one of the current government’s national agenda items, this author examines in this article the state of affairs of AASPD and discuss its challenges and policy options for moving forward.