Social Policy and Personal Autonomy Promotion in Europe
Media Influence and Social Responsibility
It is also his responsibility to be aware of the influence of media in society. Know your codes and meanings, teach and analyze their messages, its ideology, values, manifest or hidden, and strategies, promoting an active and critical view of them. From the perspective of social research, there are now several lines of high interest. For example, we can cite e-Science and digital technology for everyone. J. Garcia Tobío (Director of the Supercomputing Center of Galicia) defends e-Science and digital technology, which aims to develop scientific applications sharing resources on the Internet. E-Science allows those who do not have certain resources to use them over the Internet.
Conclusion
In a situation of change, from an advanced industrial society towards new models of society, the role that Social Policy Education has to play is fundamental. In it, all social change necessarily passes by personal and collective change and from education. We rely on a dual course:
- Education is a social right that has to be articulated from Social Policy.
- Education is a challenge that, at the micro-level, has to make possible the integral development of individuals, and at the macro-level, has to promote a dynamic system of coexistence and solidarity.
Policies for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy
Summary
The European Action Plan for Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, in 2003, promoted the Year of People with Disabilities. This event provided the impetus for the protection and promotion of human rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, achieving Europe-wide meetings and international reflection and awareness on the problems facing the disabled population. This action meant the gradual awareness and adoption in different EU countries of specific measures aimed at people with disabilities.
In Spain, from 2006, a new right of citizens was established through the so-called Promotion Law of Personal Autonomy and Care for People Experiencing Dependency (Dependency Law, Law 39/2006, of December 14). The law was widely supported by members of the Congress of Deputies, highlighting the broad consensus on aid to disability cases in Spain. This issue will discuss several aspects of dependency analysis:
- The strategic lines raised from Europe.
- The main concepts.
- The Act itself: Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for People Experiencing Dependency.
Finally, other social resources in Spain promote those same principles.
Strategic Areas in Europe Regarding Dependency
The Council of Europe
The Council of Europe has established recommendations (strategic lines) in terms of dependence. Since the main objective of this institution is social cohesion (the ability of a society to ensure the welfare of all its members, minimizing disparities and avoiding polarization (European Committee for Social Cohesion (CDCS)) and involves a partnership interaction of free individuals pursuing democratic goals (Review Council of Europe, 2006)), social policies are aimed at ensuring well-being. In 2004, a number of specific areas were established as key strategies to achieve social cohesion:
- Social protection, coping with demographic and financial changes that European societies are experiencing.
- Addressing Social Services, to save social exclusion.
- Unemployment, to support access through specific policies, and promote quality in employment.
- The right to housing, affecting countries in which the problem of finding adequate housing is acute (urgent).
- Children and families must be developed in an atmosphere of cohesion in the context of new societies.
Finally, focusing the efforts of the countries on the needs of older people, particularly in protection and social services.