Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 5 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters

Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Adam Harris:

That is no problem. I have two short comments to add to what Mr. Mason said. If we listen to what he just described from an autism or intellectual disability perspective, even if no trauma is involved, the processing time that a person has for considering these questions, formulating answers and ascertaining what his or her preference is seems wholly inappropriate.

There is something that we see in disability matters all of the time, including during the pandemic and when accessing services. When discussing this community of people, we should not assume that they are a homogenous group in terms of the ability to self-advocate. Some of the families that we have welcomed to Ireland have been able to go online, find out about different countries, ask questions, have Zoom calls, make their way here and speak English, but that is not the case for everyone. As a result, people's outcomes are influenced by their ability to self-advocate and their ability with the English language.

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