Current State of Legal Regulation of Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the current state of legal regulation of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities in Ukraine, taking into account legislative updates, the transformation of the system for assessing a person’s everyday functioning, wartime challenges, and the growing need for rehabilitation care and assistive rehabilitation devices. The methodological basis of the study consists of general scientific and special legal methods, including the systemic, formal legal, comparative legal, analytical, and generalization methods. Their application made it possible to consider rehabilitation as a comprehensive administrative and legal mechanism combining medical, social, psychological, professional, and organizational measures. It is established that the legal regulation of this area is formed on the basis of legislation on social protection, healthcare, rehabilitation in the field of healthcare, state financial guarantees of medical services, and subordinate regulatory acts concerning the provision of assistive rehabilitation devices. It is substantiated that rehabilitation cannot be regarded merely as a separate type of medical or social assistance, since it is aimed at restoring or compensating for impaired functions, ensuring a person’s independence, social integration, and a dignified quality of life. Particular attention is paid to the reform of the assessment of a person’s everyday functioning, which has the potential to shift from the formal determination of disability to an individualized identification of a person’s needs. It is proved that further improvement of legislation should be aimed at eliminating regulatory fragmentation, harmonizing medical and social mechanisms, simplifying administrative procedures, developing electronic interaction between authorized entities, and strengthening guarantees of access to rehabilitation care in the context of Ukraine’s wartime and post-war recovery.