Five people with severe disabilities petitioned the High Court of Justice this week demanding the right to live in an apartment provided to handicapped people.

The petition against the Social Affairs Ministry was submitted via Bizchut - The Israel Human Rights Center for Peoples With Disabilities.

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The ministry says the petitioners suffer from retardation and severe physical disabilities requiring constant supervision and medical care, which can only be provided by an institution. Living in an apartment may endanger the petitioners' lives and they are safer in an institution with a 24-hour on-call nurse and a medical team available, ministry spokesman Nahum Ido says.

Petitioner Michael, age 21, has had cerebral palsy since birth. He suffers from retardation, cannot speak and can only move around with a wheelchair. However, he enjoys watching television, has a large video library and likes shopping, cooking and baking with his family.

His parents are not young and his family decided it was time he moved to an apartment with other people his age, with similar conditions, under the care of a professional team. The Social Affairs Ministry only agrees to finance housing for Michael in an institution.

"He must have the warmth he gets at home," says Michael's sister, who looks after him and takes him on walks and grocery shopping. "Institutions are impersonal, he will cry there and be shy. They won't let him go out on walks. In an apartment he could watch television or go out whenever he wants to."

The families reject the ministry's approach, calling it anachronistic paternalism. "As one who raised him, I know what's good for him, and they don't," says Michael's sister. She asserts that he has never required urgent treatment and when he is sick the family takes him to the doctor at the health maintenance organization.