Ms Maria Ní Fhlatharta:

This is very much a continuation of Ms Hassett's contribution and it was co-written by our membership.

It was encouraging to see some small steps being taken to address the issues causing widespread problems in our community, including the prompt response of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to the barriers facing disabled students offered scholarships, an issue so effectively raised by Catherine Gallagher. Individual changes are welcome, but we must also look at the systemic approaches which create this environment. Currently, the majority of supports available to disabled people are means tested. The Make Work Pay scheme goes some way to alleviating this issue, but disabled people still risk losing their supports if they want to return to work. This creates barriers for disabled women in particular in that they will experience the gender pay gap as well as the disability pay gap.

Poverty restricts our choices. It undermines our dignity and it has been a root cause of us experiencing institutionalisation. We are reminded in 2021 of how inherently abusive institutions are in terms of the shambolic mother and baby homes report. As we fight to reckon fully with our institutional past, we must also end modern institutions, including nursing homes, psychiatric care facilities, long-term residential care facilities and direct provision and homelessness hubs. Institutionalisation makes disabled women particularly vulnerable. At their best, institutions continue to segregate disabled people and deny us our agency. We also must recognise that private homes can be institutionalised settings when no real option for independent living exists. Disabled women, in particular older disabled women, need to have choice in regard to where and with whom they live. Moreover, disabled women need autonomy over all decisions concerning their lives, including autonomy over their finances. Independent living requires appropriate, secure and accessible housing, but it also requires a rights-based approach to services, including personal assistant services. Disabled people are the only people still denied legal capacity in Ireland. It is imperative that disabled women's autonomy is respected so that we are supported to make decisions in all aspects of our lives, be that in regard to reproduction, where and with whom we live or medical treatment.

Today, we task the committee with the following four issues: the allocation of funds to DPOs and women's organisations to ensure the involvement of disabled women in these organisations; to ensure all institutions are relegated to the past where they belong and disabled people are supported to live where and with whom they choose; to ensure all gender-based supports and services are disability-proofed, including gender-based violence supports; and ensure disabled people are not confined to living in poverty through the provision of a non-means-tested disability payment and access to supports and services they need in their lives.

We are here today at the end of the Disabled is not a Dirty Word campaign. The campaign is a response to the language and approaches to disability which are patronising and distance us from our rights. We need to move away from terminology that does not serve disabled people. There is no issue that concerns disabled people that does not impact us specifically as disabled women and non-binary people. There is no issue that impacts women that does not impact us specifically as disabled women. As disabled women, we need to be involved in the conversations at every stage of the policymaking on disability and gender issues.