ULOBA–Cooperative on Personal Assistance
ULOBA was founded in 1991. It is based on the principles of empowerment, full citizenship and human rights. The cooperative is owned and run by disabled people according to the philosophy of Independent Living. The Independent Living Movement started as a grass-root movement in the USA in the 70s. The black people’s civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. were of great inspiration to the pioneers of the Independent Living Movement.
- ULOBA is the only cooperative on personal assistance in Norway.
- ULOBA is based on the principles of the Independent Living Movement.
- ULOBA is owned by disabled people and is run on a non-profit basis.
- ULOBA is open to everybody who wants personal assistance.
- ULOBA’s service is available throughout the country.
- ULOBA runs 27 % of all personal assistance programs in Norway.
What is Personal Assistance in ULOBA?
We are of course just as diverse as other people. Some of us need assistance for driving, communicate, make food for friends, eat, read, clear away the snow and split firewood. Others need assistance to get up in the morning, put on make up, shop, go to the cinema, go on vacation, maintenance of technical aids or meet the autumn in the mountains.
In ULOBA, we are not an “out-group” in need of “special care”, but ordinary citizens with a family, job, travel-dreams etc.
- ULOBA is a non-profit cooperative owned and run by disabled people.
- ULOBA’s owners are all leaders for their personal assistants.
- ULOBA is the employer of the owners’ personal assistants.
- ULOBA focuses on providing the owners with peer training and peer counselling.
- ULOBA’s peer counsellors facilitate training and support for the owners in leadership skills.
- ULOBA’s owners recruit, train, schedule, supervise and if necessary fire assistants who do not cope with the job.
ULOBA’s owners have full control over the assistance; who is to be employed, with which tasks, how, where and at what times. ULOBA is owned and run by people who know what it means to live with personal assistance. Personal assistance in ULOBA is custom-designed by the owners’ taste and way of life. ULOBA also works politically in order to secure equal opportunities for disabled people.
ULOBA is empowering!
ULOBA enables us to take our proper place in society, family, work and mainstream life - with all the rights and duties that non-disabled take for granted. With personal assistance we are no longer dependent on our families. Parents and partners do not need to provide necessary assistance.
- With personal assistance we can take our fair share of household chores and child-care.
- Personal assistance enables us to study and hold a job.
- When we fall in love, our partners do not have to fear that they are about to sign up for a 24- hour duty.
In Norway, the municipalities have always had a monopoly when it comes to providing services. Many experience these services as paternalistic and inflexible. ULOBA represents the opposite focus; empowerment and independence.
Nothing about us without us!
The only difference between disabled and non-disabled is that we need assistance on a daily basis, some of us 24 hours a day. People who need assistance several times a day have to rely on other people more than the rest of the population. This can easily lead people to a sense of powerlessness. Gaining control over own assistance turns this power structure upside-down. An owner in ULOBA must take the same responsibility as a manager in a company.
ULOBA is a considerable resource for personal assistance. Our offices are located in Drammen – 40 km outside the capital Oslo - but ULOBA has regional based peer counsellors covering the country. The majority of the employees in ULOBA’s administration are disabled people who themselves have personal assistance.
ULOBA’s PRIDE IS HAPPY OWNERS WHO ARE GOOD LEADERS FOR THE PERSONAL ASSISTANTS!
WHEN DISABLED PEOPLE ARE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE,
OUR CHOICE IS ULOBA!
