K pojetí invalidity a zabezpečení invalidních osob

Problems of disability and rehabilitation are attracting ever more attention of various scientific branches. This trend, much in evidence mainly since the seventies in all the world’s industrial countries, is clearly incidental to the ever growing numbers of persons disabled in consequence of accidents (especially in traffic) and of various diseases, while in connection with the advance made by the medical science an ever bigger number of affected persons is kept alive (though often as invalids). The consequence thereof is a considerable increase in the cost of disabled persons’ security. With respect to socialist countries account has to be taken of the fact that, as a result of the depletion or limited possibilities of acquiring more labour force sources, the importance of making use of the remaining working capacity of invalids is increasing. At a time disability was in the first place connected with organs of locomotion defects caused by accidents (see the term cripple). The conception of disability originated as conception of casualty disability in the 19th century in connection with the introduction of machinery in commodity production. It appeared in the legislation of industrialising countries in various definitions serving different legal ruling objectives. At present disability is most frequently caused by blood circulation diseases, whereas far fewer cases of recognised invalidity are due to diseases of the organs of locomotion. In connection therewith considerable problems are arising with the determination of differences between a temporary disease and permanent organ disfunction, i.e. between temporary or transient and permanent working capacity limitation. The answer to this question is at the same time decisive for the solution of the important legal problem, whether and from which time security is to be applied in the instance of temporary working incapacity or, to the contrary, in the case of invalidity. The temporary working incapacity development towards disability may be very complicated so long as the health affiction is not stabilised and there is, therefore, no change of a permanent character. That is the reason why introduced in the social security ruling of some countries was a sort intermediary stage between sickness benefit and disability pension in the form of partial sickness allowance combined with earning or in the form of temporary disability pension. Very important problems in the social security field are represented also by the solutions of the relationship between disability security (invalidity allowance) and old age security (old age pension). Disability and old age have some elements in common, however, there are important differences between them, which are not to be omitted. The problems of security and protection of persons with long term afflicted health (further on referred to for simplicity as invalids) represent in the Czechoslovak Law a widely developed system, its present standard being the result of long term progressive evolution. It may be stated that comparison of the system with the existing systems in the other socialist countries and in the industrial capitalist countries speaks in favour of Czechoslovakia from many significant aspects (such as e.g. the personal extent of the persons enjoying security, the material extent of security and protection etc.). Nevertheless, it is necessary to pay all-round attention to the problems, both from the theoretical and practical aspects and to strive for improvement in the various sides of their legal regulation and application process in practice. Statistics show that disability cases are not receding and it is, therefore, necessary to bear in mind that in future considerable means will have to be spent on invalids’ security from social consumption funds. In the Czechoslovak ruling concerning disability allowances desirable would be to abandon in the future some of the solutions, that had come into existence in the mid-fifties, and are no longer matching present-day possibilities and requirements of the disabled persons’ working rehabilitation and social reintegration. Such solutions should be replaced by legislative measures directed at the provision of optimum material conditions for rehabilitation and reintegration in compliance with the progressive trends in the disabled persons’ social security sector of other socialist countries. The concrete shape of such measures will no doubt be in the future a subject for more extensive discussions by experts from the legislative, theoretical and practical social security sphere, since various alternatives in the solution of the individual problems will come in consideration.