People with Disabilities in Ireland
4th Floor Jervis House
Jervis Street
Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 87 21 74 4
Fax: 01 87 21 77 1
Email: info@pwdi.ie
Page 2 of 14 << Back | Next >>
People with disabilities are the neglected citizens of Ireland. On the eve of the 21st century, many of them suffer intolerable conditions because of outdated social and economic policies and unthinking public attitudes. Changes have begun to come about, influenced by international recognition that disability is a social rather than a medical issue, but many of those changes have piecemeal. Public attitudes towards disability are still based on charity rather than on rights and the odds are stacked against people with disabilities at almost every turn. Whether their status is looked at in terms of economics, information, education, mobility or housing, they are seen to be treated as second-class citizens.
People with disabilities are angry and their justifiable anger was evident in submissions to the Commission and at listening to meetings which the Commission held throughout the country over the past two years. The picture that emerged was one of a society which excludes people with disabilities from almost every aspect of economic, social, political and cultural life. People with disabilities and their families made it clear that they want equality; they want to move from a reliance on charity towards establishing basic rights. They want, and are entitled to, equality and full participation as citizens.
One of the most striking features of the submission was the sense of absolute frustration which emerged from them. The frustration did not centre, as some might expect, on personal experiences of physical pain, discomfort or impaired function. Nor did it centre on the incurable nature of many disabling conditions nor on the question on "why me", which is often discussed in relation to the distributor of disability. On the contrary, the frustration revolved around people's sense that they were being put in a position of having to deal with a myriad of oppressive social barriers in addition to their disabling conditions.
Another theme to emerge clearly from the submissions and the meetings was that of marginalisation. This word took on a stark reality and force from the hundreds of pages of submissions sent in to the Commission from people with disabilities and their families. Many people with disabilities felt that they were being either kept at or pushed to the margins of society. They were not being allowed to realise their potential or to participate as fully as they are entitled to in every day life.
Disability can have major implications, not only for the individuals who are directly affected, but also for those who find themselves in the role of informal carers. While it is almost always close family members; parents, spouses or children, who fill this role, friends or neighbours may also be involved in a major way. The Commission received 100 submissions from the family members of people with disabilities. This material was also full of strong feelings and emotion and underlined the point that caring for people with disabilities can be an ongoing physical, mental and emotional strain accompanied by a sense of terrible isolation.
In practical terms, one of the single largest areas of concern raised in the submission and at the listening meetings was the question of access and transport. Clearly, the build environment and most forms of transport are very inaccessible for people with disabilities. Many of the submissions from individuals referred to the inability to get out and about, the need to plan every trip and the sense of being "a prisoner in one's own home". They criticised the inaccessibility of public transport: as one person put it graphically, "public transport means that when you are disabled, you are no longer a member of the public". These problems are not just mechanical ones but ones that have several important consequences. They mean that people are denied full access to education, to employment and training, to cultural and leisure events. They mean that the overall cost of living for people with disabilities is higher than for other people.
Another of the major failings identified at the listening meetings was the lack of information available to people with disabilities and their carers. And not just the absence of information but the way in which people were treated when they went looking for it. The difficulty of obtaining access to entitlements and services, both public and private, was of major concern. Many submissions emphasised the lack of coordination between service providers, the fragmentation of services and the difficulty in getting entitlements. There is no one source of information for people with disabilities and they frequently have to go from organisation to organisation in an attempt to identify their options. The absence of easily accessible information is clearly a major factor in the isolation and marginalisation experienced by very many citizens.