A group of recipients of the Personal Assistance Budget (BAP) led a protest in Brussels on Monday, European Independent Living Day, against the decision by Iriscare to abolish the financial assistance scheme.
The BAP is designed to help people with disabilities achieve greater autonomy by enabling them to organise and finance necessary daily assistance. However, the Bap.Brussels group criticises what it sees as the lack of consultation with affected individuals in the decision-making process by Iriscare, a non-profit family allowance agency that runs it.
Iriscare, under the authority of the Joint Community Commission (Cocom), decided to eliminate the BAP from 1 January 2025. The scheme will continue with a reduced budget in 2025 and is set to be scrapped entirely in 2026.
About 60 Bap.Brussels demonstrators gathered from around 1.30 p.m. at the Carrefour de l’Europe to defend the fundamental right of people with disabilities to “live with dignity, outside institutions.”
“Taking charge of my life is my right,” proclaimed one of the placards. Another, carried by Alberto Alonso - the father of Pablo, a 10-year BAP beneficiary - read: “The institution is not the solution.”
Alberto described Iriscare’s decision to eliminate the BAP as “outrageous,” noting that it affects those with a “great need for assistance.”
He emphasised that the support grants his son greater autonomy and independence, including access to a home assistant and swimming classes.
Bap.Brussels argues that defending the BAP is about developing a deinstitutionalisation plan and beginning discussions on redirecting public funds from institutional care models to independent living.
“It’s high time for a true paradigm shift—both in societal perceptions of disability and in personal assistance,” the organisation notes.
