Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like many of the other Deputies, I find I am learning so much. I thank Mr. Harris and his organisation for their role in that. Obviously, I deal with families all the time. Half the time I am just heartbroken and left wondering what solutions can be found. That is one aspect.

This is our second or third meeting. From reading Mr. Harris’s documentation, I learned how I need to reorient my thinking and expand it to be, literally, more inclusive. That makes me realise how big a challenge this is for all of society. I would think, as we all do, that we are fairly broad-minded and open. However, when you do not have personal experience of something or you do not see it in your immediate family, your experience can be quite limited. I see the huge challenge that presents for society.

As I said, that is where we are starting from. The committee will be in place for a period of nine months. Many Deputies have referred to that, and Mr. Harris talked about the wins that we could hope to achieve during that time. Also, we have to look at fundamental policy change. In regard to the wins, I raised employment earlier with the Minister of State. Mr. Harris spoke about it as well. Can he elaborate a little on practical supports in employment settings? Has he worked with any employer organisations? What response did he get? What progress has been made? What is his view on the WALK programme and how could we give it greater support?

On legislative change, is there anything at EU level? There is a lot of good legislation. We have the disability strategy, but that is a strategy; it is not actual legislation. Of course, we have anti-discrimination legislation and the convention, but, again, it is a convention. Does Mr. Harris see anything in regard to concrete legislation that would be useful, either at EU level or here, particularly as there is nothing to prevent us from going further? While the legislation in place is supportive, it is not sufficient to move us that bit further that we need to go.

Mr. Harris is absolutely right that we need to grasp some of the nettles. If a certain percentage of children with autism are in mainstream schools, we think that is inclusion just because they are physically present. At a much more basic level, however, it means that the whole system, including teachers, students, physical space, school policies and boards of management, is, if you like, set up in such a way that inclusion actually means that the space - by space I mean everything - is not just designed for an autistic child, but it is designed for all, which includes autistic children. We talk about universal design meaning the physical space. However, we have to broaden our thinking on that. What are Mr. Harris’s thoughts on the matter?

I ask Mr. Harris to grasp a very difficult nettle. I was a teacher for many years. Mr. Harris wrote about discipline policies in his submission. Can he talk to us about that, please?