Respect and Dignity for People with Disability

I have Cerebral Palsy and chronic pain and I’m confined to a wheelchair. I have been living on my own since August 2000 with the help of 3 personal assistants who help me in every aspect of my daily life. Without them I would be in an institution. I was among the first 30 people to get a PA service through the Centre for Independent Living in 1993 so that I could go to Trinity College. I will be graduating with a Masters in History on Friday 13th of February 2009.
Now most of the PA services are administered through the Irish Wheelchair Association and other service providers.

Through having PAs I have also been able to do voluntary community work. The Personal Assistants have enabled me to live independently and keep my dignity. Yet I fear my PA hours will be cut so drastically under the Disability Act 2005 that I would not be able to continue to live independently any more.

Throughout the boom years the government neglected to ring fence funding for people with disabilities. Now with the economic downturn the government is looking at cutting costs by taking vital services away from people with disabilities.
The Disability Act 2005 is very draconian in nature by insisting that people must apply to their local HSE to keep the services they already have let alone applying for any extra services needed. Under the Disability Act the decision about individual services rests with the head of the local HSE.

I had my hours increased in April 2007 with direct funding from the HSE because up until that time I had to give the PA, who worked on Sundays, 6 hours off while I had to be collected by special transport to spend those hours with my elderly parents.
This was against the Health & Safety Regulations because my parent’s house is not equipped to cater to my needs.

The government is taking 'Independent Living' out of context as I discovered when I attended a presentation given by Susie Byrne from the Dublin Advocacy Service on December 4th 2008.
The government is closing the two oldest Cheshire Homes in Ireland, thus creating a climate of fear which will lead to a 'divide and conquer' mentality among people with disabilities and groups who represent people with disabilities so that the government can make the cuts and changes it deems necessary for the savings in the economy.
Recent press reports indicate that there are a further 7000 possible service users yet to be assessed, and it is likely that a significant number of these people will be in need of some personal assistance.
The impact of the combination of the 600 on the current waiting list added to the potential waiting list from those waiting to be assessed, be they adults or children, is significant and the impact need to be considered by the Board in charting the future of the IWA - ALS service.

We in the Labour Party must not let the present government get away with this discriminating plan. This mentality is one reason why there is such a need for the Human Rights Commissioner. We cannot continue playing with peoples lives and treat disabled people as second-class citizens.

Because of having PAs, people with significant disabilities in Ireland have been employed and ARE employable.

Ireland is one of the few countries within the EU which does not have the Human Rights Commissioner for people with disabilities. The Irish government has failed to ratify the law which would bring the Human Rights Commissioner into existence for people with disability.