A/HRC/28/37 include individually designed support for personal hygiene, meals, dressing, mobility and communicating with others. Persons with greater support needs in Thailand can apply for a personal assistant for a maximum period of six hours per day or 180 hours per month. In the Republic of Korea, about 50,000 persons with disabilities had benefited from personal assistance services as at January 2013. 34. Personal assistance should be available to all persons with disabilities. However, in many countries it is available only to persons with certain impairments. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has expressed concern at such limitations in its dialogue with States parties.29 A range of personal assistance approaches, including peer support and advocacy, crisis respite and planning, non-medical support to deal with altered perceptions, assistance to meet practical needs of everyday life, advocates for decisionmaking support and living support networks to help make connections in the community, have proved particularly beneficial to persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities. The provision of access to personal assistants for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities is essential to moving from a medical to a social approach concerning mental health issues with respect to personal autonomy. 3. Naturally occurring community support 35. Alongside the variety of services identified, naturally occurring community support is provided informally to persons with disabilities by family, friends or other members of the community. In some countries policies stipulate that the responsibility to assist persons with disabilities rests with their families. That approach is also sometimes encouraged through incentives such as social security benefits, allowances and pension schemes or eligibility criteria to qualify as service providers. 36. Support provided by family, friends and the broader community is extremely important and should be encouraged in order to promote inclusive and respectful societies; in many situations this is the only support available. Nevertheless, exclusive reliance on informal support can have adverse consequences, including by endorsing gender stereotypes of women as care providers. When women are the principal care providers in families, as mothers they are often exposed to higher levels of stress and fatigue, and as siblings they lose out on opportunities for education. Family support may also affect the choice and control that persons with disabilities exercise over the type of support required, in particular when support is encouraged by State benefits. Women with disabilities may also be exposed to higher risks of segregation, violence and abuse. Provision of informal support may mean that the number of working members in the family is reduced, which will have a direct impact on household income and gross domestic product. Finally, relying on informal support may not be sustainable, as the family members may not be able to provide such support as they age or if they fall ill.30 4. Requisites for adequate support 37. In certain contexts training is essential, in order to ensure that support is in conformity with the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, responds to needs and respects the individual’s will. The Personal Assistants Training Programme in Trinidad and Tobago, for instance, comprises classroom and practical training, as well as a 15-month period of on-the-job training. Certification and evaluation are equally important. Specific training should be directed at professionals who currently 29 30 See, for instance, CRPD/C/AUT/CO/1. See, for instance, WHO and World Bank, World Report, p. 142. 11