‘Disabled' Left On Their Shelf
There are 350,000 people with disabilities among our population.
Disability affects 25 to 30 per cent of the population. That's a lot
of votes, and yet the government does little or nothing, says Paddy Doyle
The present Fianna
Fáil/Progressive Democrat government has not, contrary to what many
people in the disability ‘industry' would like us to believe, been
good for people with disabilities, for their families or friends.
Undoubtedly, Bertie Ahern and his colleagues in government will trot
out lines about the great strides made by his government on behalf
of "the disabled", but those of us with disabilities and those who
work or have worked in that field know the reality is very
different.
So why are things no better now than they were five or ten years
ago? The government has formally ‘committed' itself to implement the
recommendations of the Commission on the Status of People with
Disabilities, ‘A Strategy for Equality', a report hailed by
many as being one of the greatest insights into disability and
people with disabilities ever published in the entire world.
http://www.paddydoyle.com/commissionreport.html
However, as with so many reports relating to people with
disabilities, it appears the government has in reality decided to
shelve this one. There is no government minister at the cabinet
table who directly represents people with disabilities, despite the
huge numbers of people whose lives disability affects. A Strategy
for Equality estimates that there are approximately 350,000
people with disabilities in Ireland. When families are added to
this, the number of people affected by disability can be safely
estimated to be close to a million or more. Based on current
population figures, disability affects 25% to 30% of people in
Ireland, directly and indirectly.
It is often said that the hearts of various and successive
government ministers are in the right place. This is an anatomical
fact, and must be interpreted only as such. It is also a fact of
life that "having a heart" does not move the barriers - and not just
physical barriers - encountered by those with disabilities forward
one proverbial inch.
While the government and a sizeable proportion of the population
saw the ‘Special Olympics' as a turning point for people with
disabilities, the real beneficiaries of the games were large
financial institutions, motor car dealers and various other
corporate bodies. The games are long since over and little if
anything is now heard of people with disabilities except when a
social worker or psychologist decides that parents are not capable
of minding their own sons or daughters and take them into ‘care'.
Unemployment rates among people with disabilities are nothing short
of scandalous, standing as they currently do over 70%. Even the
casual observer can see that discrimination against people on the
basis of a disability is alive and well in Ireland.
While quota systems for the employment of disabled people exist,
they are not underpinned by legislation and thus are meaningless.
I've lived with disability for over 40 years and despite the pious
platitudes of governments and others I still find I am at the bottom
of the social pile and often relegated to the status of second-class
citizen. It is now time that a constitutional referendum was held
which would make it a criminal offence to discriminate against a
person with a disability on any grounds.
In recent years there has been much talk about an improvement in
services to people with disabilities. On close examination it is not
hard to see that these ‘improvements' in services are nothing but a
figment of someone's over-active imagination. I have been waiting
for more than four years for neurological services — of any kind.
Other people with physical disabilities, who need services
such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech therapy within
their own community, find such services as difficult to find as
rocking horse manure. It is not unusual for people to have to wait
anything from six months to a year to be ‘assessed' for a
wheelchair, let alone get the actual chair.
The frustration brought about by not being able to avail of
services essential to ensuring the best possible quality of life to
a person with a disability is everyday, long-lasting and intense.
Meanwhile, quality of life deteriorates and depression sets in,
compounding an already difficult situation and further diminishing
quality of life.
Much needs to happen to enhance the lives of people with
disabilities and their families. The process must begin immediately,
as further procrastination can only further marginalise a very
sizeable group of people who have had merely minimal attention to
their needs from this society for far too long.
And in case you think it is no concern of yours, don't forget
that disability is not confined to those of us who already have
disabilities. It can happen to anyone — it can be the result of an
accident, or the onset of conditions such as multiple sclerosis,
Parkinson's disease or dystonia. Disability is, too, part of the
ageing process. It's pretty hard to escape, really.
Paddy
Doyle is a former winner of the People Of The Year award.
He has suffered with idiopathic torsion dystonia since the age of
nine, an incurable condition which produces frequent — almost
continuous — muscle spasms. He is author of a best-selling
autobiography, The God Squad, and maintains an informative
and amusing internet presence at www.paddydoyle.com His e-mail is paddy@paddydoyle.com
Dublin, Ireland: 1 May 2005
