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
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People with Disabilities in Ireland Ltd., (PwDI) comprises 30 Networks of People with Disabilities in Ireland. PwDI is a national organisation of people with disabilities which represents people with all disabilities nationwide. The primary aim of PwDI is to promote the human, civil, social, economic, political, cultural and recreational rights and freedoms of people with disabilities in Ireland.
During the months of October and November 2002 PwDI organised and facilitated four Regional Seminars on the theme of "Youth - Beyond Disability". As young people are the future of our country and are vital to the future of PwDI, the objective of hosting these seminars was to identify the experiences, issues, hopes and dreams of young people with disabilities in Ireland today and to inform the agenda for a major International Conference to be held by PwDI during the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003.
The Seminars were promoted using a variety of media. Advertisements were placed in the National, regional and local papers and on local radio. Some disability magazines, including Cumhacht the nationwide magazine of PwDI, also advertised the seminars.
Promoting the seminars at the local Network Meetings worked well in most cases. Some of the Networks also sent details of their local seminar to their local radio stations; this was very effective, especially in the North-East of the country.
Seminar flyers were sent to all public and private sector bodies and organisations. Posters were put up in the offices of a number of disability organisations around the country. Posters, A4 and A3 sizes were also sent / delivered to a number of pharmacies, doctors surgeries, shops, supermarkets and hotels.
Word-of-mouth to promote the seminars was very effective. After the first seminar, the word spread quickly, and that increased the numbers of delegates at the other three seminars significantly.
There was widespread coverage of all four Seminars in the regional newspapers and on local radio. In fact, the main reason for the large turnout at each seminar was a series of advertisements and press releases that appeared in the local media prior to each seminar event, highlighting again the importance of the local media in Ireland.
A local photographer was hired for each seminar and photographs of groups on a county basis were circulated to the local newspapers. The response was excellent with many of the "host town" papers, including the Leitrim Observer, The Kingdom Newspaper (Kerry) and the Kilkenny People affording the Seminars a half page of coverage. This coverage was extremely useful in highlighting the role of PwDI and in particular, the local Networks in each county. The Seminars were also covered in disability-related magazines including Insight and Cumhacht.
Many local radio stations conducted interviews with local participants before, during and after the seminars and were very co-operative in helping to promote these events.
Nearly 1000 delegates attended the four Youth - Beyond Disability Seminars, in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim on October 31, Kilkenny on November 6, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan on November 13 and Cork city on November 19.
At each Seminar there was a line up of key speakers, including representatives from the Government, local authorities, Health Boards, the Garda Siochána, educational bodies, the National Children's Office and youth organisations.
There was also a number of young speakers, 18 in total, at the four seminars. Each of the young speakers shared with delegates their experiences of life as a young person living with a disability, their hopes and aspirations for the future.
The format of each Seminar was similar: each was addressed by a keynote speaker who was followed by the young speakers, after which workshops were held to include the participation and views of all delegates. The objective of the workshops was to identify and explore further the issues of concern to young people with disabilities in relation to Education, Employment, Recreation and Leisure Facilities.
This report of the four Youth - Beyond Disability Seminars presents the key issues and concerns raised by the various speakers and delegates who participated in the seminars. Both the numbers in attendance and the atmosphere at the seminars demonstrated loudly and clearly the level of interest in securing effective rights for young people with disabilities in Ireland today.
The format of this report presents firstly, a summary of the key commitments given by policy makers and the issues that particularly concern young people with disabilities in Ireland; secondly, a report of the speakers inputs' presented at the seminars; thirdly, a summary of the feedback from the three workshops held at each of the four seminars and finally a copy of the agenda and line up of speakers at each of the four PwDI Youth - Beyond Disability Seminars.
Opening the seminar in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, the Co-Chairman of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body, Brendan Smith TD, said that the Government wish to express their support for the work of PwDI and the four regional seminars, designed to inform and raise awareness of youth disability issues in the European Year for People with Disabilities (EYPD), 2003. Deputy Smith stated that the regional Seminars organised by PwDI provided an important forum for the discussion of the issues affecting the lives of young disabled people in Ireland.
He outlined measures that have been put in place to address some of the barriers to the inclusion and full participation of disabled people, the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act (2000), both bringing in new anti-discrimination law, and the National Disability Authority Act (1999) making provision for an Authority to ensure proper delivery of services to people with disabilities. Deputy Smith also spoke about the consultation process currently under way in relation to the forthcoming Disabilities Bill which will inform the work of building a more inclusive society, "allowing everybody to take an active role in that society."
Everyone has a role to play in making our participation in the European Year of People with Disabilities memorable, he said.
He thanked all the young people for their contributions to this Seminar: "From this and the other Seminars will come issues and ideas which can make the Year rewarding and successful."
Speaking at the seminar in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Enda Kenny TD, leader of Fine Gael, said that discrimination is lessening due to equality legislation, to the huge information and rights campaign conducted by Irish disability lobbies and to seminal publications such as the 1996 Report of the Commission on the Status of People With Disabilities - A Strategy For Equality.
He said that, as Leader of Fine Gael, he will make every effort to ensure that, on the reintroduction of the Disability Bill, the Government acts in the interests of all citizens and produces rights-based legislation for the young men and young women of this country who are living with a disability. He promised the support of his party to ensure that the best possible legislation is produced and implemented.
Deputy Kenny said that he regrets that the Education for Persons with a Disability Bill 2002 provides only for the educational needs of children from 3 to 18 years and that different approaches and measures are often needed to include people with different disabilities in education and employment to ensure equity and balance.
Deputy Kenny also said that the State should recognise the additional financial cost of a disability, improve access to assessment and therapy and urgently review eligibility criteria for receipt of Carers Allowance.
In his closing remarks, Enda Kenny said that: "there should be no barriers to inclusion. I believe that it is the political and moral duty of the State to enable and to encourage, in every way possible, independent living for everyone with a disability. To make that a reality we have to create a system that asks people not what they have - but what they need to make life better. For years, people with a disability have listened to words like mainstream, integrate, empower and enable - it's time for action."
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