History of the PA Role

The introduction of Self-directed Support means that people now have the right to choose how they are assisted with their independent living needs, and this can mean employing their own staff using funding from their council.

The Independent Living Movement has campaigned for many years for disabled people to have the right to control their own lives, and the assistance needed to live those lives to the fullest. Personal Assistance emerged from that campaign. Personal Assistance is a fundamental necessity to enable people to live a full independent life. Independent living means having the same choices and control in everyday lives that non-disabled people take for granted. PAs are people who support their disabled employer to live an independent life.

Many of the ideas which currently cluster together under the banner of ‘independent living’ have been part and parcel of the struggles and aspirations of individual disabled people, probably as long as disabled people have dreamed of independence. A central element of ‘independent living’ is Personal Assistance and, in particular, having direct access to the cash which gives freedom to hire and manage PAs who carry out duties under the direction of the disabled person themselves.