THE ROLE OF THE PERSONAL ASSISTANT FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: THE CASE OF THE SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY OF BUENOS AIRES

Abstract

This article presents a case study of the Independent Living Support Program of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires. Implemented since 2016, the program provides a personal assistance service for persons with disabilities residing in the city. Fieldwork was conducted between 2023 and 2024, and the analysis focuses on the figure of the personal assistant for independent living, which embodies a novel practice in the field of social policy on disability. The article explores the program’s operation, its guiding rationale and, in particular, the challenges that arise in the everyday practice of personal assistants. Based on the information gathered, it proposes a typology of approaches to personal assistance —educational-therapeutic, care-oriented, and empowering— that constitute discernible axes for rethinking the praxis of this role on the basis of its concrete experience within the case analyzed.