Mr. Patrick Flanagan:

I agree with the point Deputy Canney made about the need for things to be much clearer to disabled people. Mainstreaming is both a positive and a negative in this regard. Ideally, the disabled person just applies for a job and goes into whatever service or department he or she needs to get support or information, the same as anybody else does. The issue is that disabled people do not come from a point of equality at the start. If things are provided for us that allow us to go in as equals to seek those supports, if we know we are not disadvantaged by our economic status or our current education status, and if what we need is afforded to us before we go in there, we can reasonably expect mainstreaming to work. If, however, the disability supports to minimise the impact of some of the impairments or limitations that come with disability are not in place in the first instance, mainstreaming will not work because people with disabilities come in at too different a point in their lives or too late to be able to expect the same benefits as somebody else going in.