When people with disabilities have to take to the street to get what the law already guarantees them, that says more about the system than any government statement. The "Menuvame" coalition has announced a protest on Thursday, 25 June, outside the Ministry of Social Policy, demanding more personal assistants and regular payments.

The demands, drawn up in coordination with people with disabilities themselves, include the urgent restoration of personal-assistance hours to 80 hours, as well as the regular, timely and uninterrupted payment of financial support. In other words - they aren't asking for something new, but for the return of what already existed and respect for what the law already prescribes.

Behind every cut to personal-assistance hours stands a specific person - someone who can't get up on their own, get dressed, leave the house. When the hours are cut, what's cut isn't a bureaucratic line item, but someone's daily independence. And when the payments are late, the families who already carry the heaviest burden are pushed deeper still.

The question for those in power is direct: why do rights that are "legally guaranteed" have to be defended on the street? If the implementation of disability policy were working, this protest wouldn't be needed. The fact that it is - is proof that somewhere between the law and life, something keeps getting lost.