Labour Party Motion, March 2009

This speech was read out at the Labour Party Motion Conference in Mullingar on March 29th 2009.

My name is Mary Collins and I am a member of the Jack Fitzgerald branch in Dun Laoghaire.

I have Cerebral Palsy and chronic pain and I’m confined to a wheelchair since birth.

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.

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 and feel like a prisoner with no dignity and freedom. One of my first experiences of adult respite institutionalisation was that I was put to bed at 4pm not because I wanted to go to bed at that time but because I was forced to go to bed at that time. I can recall countless numbers of situations of similar nature.

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 have since then graduated with a Masters degree in 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.

The most recent External Review of the Assisted Living Services states that there are 7000 possible service users yet to be assessed and it is likely that a significant number of these people will be in need of personal assistance. Also there are 600 people waiting for the Personal Assistant Services (Vincent McCarthy, Irish Wheelchair Association External Review 2007).

As the US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg ruling on the decision in Tennessee stated—it is a right and that sometimes you have to treat citizens differently to give them equal dignity. In order to treat all citizens with equal dignity you sometimes have to treat some citizens differently to attain equal dignity and equal rights.

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 Accessible Community Transport Southside 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.

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

Also people with Disabilities should have a right to a door-to-door transport, which should be subsidised by the government due to the fact that the public transport isn’t safe or fully accessible. Also it has to emphasised that the ‘normal’ taxis are not accessible or safe and that people with significant disabilities cannot avail of those. Accessible Community Transport Southside (ACTS Ltd.) and Vantastic should be fully subsidised by the government.

I was hoping that someone would make the government realise that most people with disabilities cannot use public toilets because there is no ceiling hoist equipment which would allow my personal assistant to help me safely with the toileting. It is an embarrassing matter for me and millions of people with disabilities who cannot use the public toilets for that reason.

Hope that we will succeed in making vital changes in our public buildings and footpaths and general infrastructure.

Universally designed buildings would provide access to all people.

By providing access for people with disabilities you are also providing access for elderly people and for women with children in the buggy.

At this point in time I feel that I have no right to access certain buildings and amenities which makes me feel less of a person or less important.

I feel that I have no right to use the public toilets because public toilets don’t have a ceiling hoist.

I fear that I have no right to use the local public swimming pool because it has no ceiling hoist. I have no right to be fit and healthy. I only have a right to medical card and drugs.

I want to have a right to access public buildings and public infrastructure just like everybody else.

I propose universal design and access for all people to all buildings.

Thank you for listening to me,

Mary Collins