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Participants in the commission’s meeting included Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko, Chair of the Defenders of the Fatherland State Foundation to Support Participants in the Special Military Operation Anna Tsivilyova, commission members, representatives of federal executive bodies, as well as regional executive bodies of the Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions, and also members of national public organisations for persons with disabilities.

The commission meeting’s agenda included the following items:

annual summary report on the state of affairs regarding people with disabilities in the Russian Federation in 2023;

carrying out measures to provide services related to assisted living, social employment and supported employment for people with disabilities (Item 3 in the list of the instructions by the President of the Russian Federation No Pr-2539 of December 30, 2022).

The debate on the first item of the agenda dealing with the summary report on the state of affairs regarding people with disabilities in the Russian Federation in 2023 included presentations by Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko, Deputy Minister of Healthcare Yevgeny Kamkin, Deputy Minister of Transport Valentin Ivanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Yekaterina Priyezheva, Chair of the Defenders of the Fatherland State Foundation to Support Participants in the Special Military Operation Anna Tsivilyova, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veteran Affairs, Chair of the National Society of the Disabled Mikhail Terentyev, and Director General of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects Svetlana Chupsheva.

In his remarks, Alexei Vovchenko said that the Ministry of Labour drafted the summary report as per the commission’s decision and worked together on this matter with the corresponding federal and regional executive bodies with input from representatives of civil society and expert organisations. The purpose of compiling this report consisted of devising state policy measures targeting persons with disabilities by relying on data from the Federal Bureau for Sociomedical Assessment, the federal registry of persons with disabilities, and federal statistics.

The summary report covers current issues of people with special needs, namely the current state and dynamics of child and adult disability, the improvement of the disability assessment system, the development of the system of comprehensive rehabilitation and habilitation of children and adults with disabilities, the provision of technical rehabilitation equipment, the employment of people with disabilities, inclusive education, the accessibility of physical training and sports, and the participation of disabled people in social and cultural activities.

Following discussions, it was decided that the annual summary report should be approved with some stipulations concerning the provision of medical assistance and medicines to disabled children and adults, including by the Circle of Kindness Foundation, the accessibility of transport and other infrastructure and the provision of technical rehabilitation means for disabled children.

It has also been recommended that the results of social research and opinion polls be taken into account. The updated summary report will be made accessible for consideration by the general public.

Reports on the second issue were made by Acting Minister of Social Policy of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Igor Sedykh, Chair of the Social Protection Committee of the Leningrad Region Anastasia Tkachyova, Acting Head of the Social Protection Department of the Vologda Region Irina Okopnik, and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko.

Other participants in the debates were President of the All-Russia Association of the Blind Vladimir Sipkin, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans’ Affairs and Chair of the All-Russian Society of Disabled People Mikhail Terentyev, Chair of the Board of the All-Russian Organisation of Parents of Disabled Children and people aged over 18 with mental and other disabilities who need representation of their interests Yelena Klochko.

The Labour Ministry, acting jointly with the executive authorities of the Russian regions, organised a survey on assisted living, social employment and supported employment of people with disabilities.

According to the Labour Ministry of Russia, as of March 1, 2024, 1,721 disabled persons made use of assisted living services, 73,508 were involved in social employment, and 2,248 people with of group I and II disabilities were involved in supported employment.

Speaking about the technology of assisted living, the main goal is to complete the development of a legal framework at the federal and regional levels.

Other issues that are important for the further development of the assisted living technology have to do with the drafting and approval of a comprehensive interagency action plan (roadmap) for the development of assisted living in the constituent entities of Russia until 2026, issues of guardianship and custody, a legal framework for the procedure of allocating living premises, training skilled personnel and coordinating the relevant indicators of statistical survey.

The speakers pointed out that additional attention should be given to the organisation of supported employment for people with mental disabilities.