Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for organising this meeting. It is notable and important that during international women's week we have the opportunity to speak to women with a disability. The point was well made in some of the submissions that some women prefer to be called "disabled women". Whichever term a person chooses to describe himself or herself is the right way to approach it.

The theme of this year's International Women's Day is "Choose to Challenge". We had a two-hour debate in the Seanad yesterday on how we choose to challenge and what we need to choose to challenge in society, particularly from a gender perspective. In the opening statements we heard today we were made all the more conscious of the challenges facing women.

Starting a conversation on what any one of us can do to challenge the status quoand ensure gender balance across all aspects of society is important. It is also important to celebrate women in their diversity and, today, to place an emphasis on women with disabilities and ensure their voice is heard and their needs are met. There are many different experiences of being a woman in Ireland and that has to be addressed not just yesterday or this week but throughout the year. It is time for positive measures for women with disabilities to ensure they and the witnesses, those they represent and their peers have full human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with everybody else.

As a woman, I believe I must help to make sure the fight against inequality breaks down barriers for all women, not just some. The slogan "Nothing about us without us", which informed the approach we took to today and has come up in hearings, has to be at the centre of every discussion about women and disabilities. On Twitter during the week, it was interesting to see the question put as to why people use the term "disability" and to look at some of the responses. They included the fact that acknowledging a disability has enabled a particular respondent to transcend her illness. Another woman realised that to try to hide or to be ashamed of her disability serves to uphold the ableist status quo. All of that is important. One lady replied that she was part of a magnificent, unique group of disabled women with a cultural identity to celebrate with pride.

I will put a few questions to the witnesses. I was concerned to hear from the National Women's Council of Ireland about barriers that women with disabilities experience in accessing health screening services, resulting in a lower take-up of breast and cervical cancer screenings. I would like to hear more about that in terms of any data available.

The incidence of violence against women with disabilities is particularly high. That is shocking. Perhaps the witnesses could help the committee with how we need to deal with that.

Equality budgeting has been expanded across government to broaden the scope to other dimensions of equality, including disability. The initial report notes that the National Women's Council of Ireland is involved in this work. Will the witnesses tell us a bit more about that?

Many disabled women gave testament to significant levels of exclusion and isolation from women's groups and the women's sector as a whole. That was sad and there must be a way we could help support those women.