Inhalt:
.Assistance in Austria
Announcer: Coming home late is theoretically no obstacle, once the carers are informed. Martin Kopper neither has to be at home at 10 p.m., nor at midnight. Only, it rarely occurs at night in his life. At the weekends, Balance increases the amount of staff. If arranged on time, they accompany the inhabitants at their recreational activity.
Martin Kopper: I have a rather big need for support, but I could not say that I feel particularly dependent.
Announcer: Three times a week calls on an assistant from the Viennese assistant?s cooperation (Wiener Assistenzgenossenschaft) for about 13 hours. He supports him in going to the toilet and copying of documents for his studies.
Martin Kopper: Since I am whole day cared in the communal housing and, also 24 hours a day, and this is financed by the Vienna council, I only need things which happen outside , i.e. at the university, from time to time. And for this I have been allocated a carer from the WAG, who I also get on very well with. ? Actually, I chose him myself.
Announcer: The 12th district of Vienna offers an excellent infrastructure as well as good public transport. Martin Kopper occasionally uses the underground. To manage the journey to his lectures and seminars he frequently orders the special transport.
When Martin Kopper does not devote his time to his studies, he pays a voluntary visit to an elderly woman in a Caritas nursing home or looks after a mentally ill friend. He spends the weekends with his parents, and undertakes a lot with them and has spent some holidays with them. He will go to Tunisia with cohabitants.
There is only one thing he dislikes: hanging around in bars.
Martin Kopper: I have a friend, who goes to the cinema with me quite often, then I will be late and he will bring me to bed.
Announcer: With his editorial input into Verein Balance?s paper he supports his mother in her function as a chairwoman.
Martin Kopper: It is true that I support my parents to set certain things in motion. People realize increasingly that disabled persons should have say in their own lives. This is learning process in the association, too, which is slowly gaining momentum.
The obstacles linked to disability/Behinderung are only in the mind. You can get used to disability and I have got use to it very well. My disability is entirely normal to me. I can?t hang around thinking everyday, what if I didn?t have one. I have no time for that.
