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Rights to special services for people with developmental disabilities in Sweden - the risk and benefits of a legislative approach
- Author:
- HOLLANDER A.
- Journal article citation:
- Scandinavian Journal of Social Welfare, 2(2), April 1993, pp.63-68.
- Publisher:
- Munksgaard/ Blackwell
Several major pieces of legislation in Sweden have been developed and enacted during the twentieth century to enable people with disabilities to live as normal a life as possible. The legal instrument is not supposed to depend on political economic trends. Important changes in the new Act on Social Services for Developmentally Disabled Persons from 1986 include qualitative demands and the right to self-determination for those individuals. The special services covered by the law are called social rights. The implementation of these rights is under the jurisdiction of politically appointed councils in counties or municipalities. the decisions made by these authorities can be appealed in administrative courts. Judicial review is supposed to be an instrument for the protection of citizens from the authorities responsible for services. In theory, at least, when one disabled person wins a case in court, the precedent should trickle down to all individuals in similar predicaments. But this does not always occur. One problem is that the law has no sanctions to force local authorities to follow the precedents or to execute court decisions. This article focuses on the Act and on the interplay between court cases and precedents and the decisions made by local authorities.