Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is great to sit with the Joint Committee on Disability today. It is an honour to be here. The autistic community is probably a lot further behind the blind community. We take for granted all the advances with Braille, the beeping traffic lights and different advances in assistive technology. Members of the blind community are therefore somewhat more able to go about their lives, have a meaningful life and participate properly.

For the autistic community, especially those who need a higher level of support, it is a lot more challenging. Much of the time, people can tell a building is going to be challenging when they step into the foyer. If they have a child, they will immediately know even from the acoustics coming back from inside that it is a no-go area.

It is great that we are having these discussions at this stage in terms of buildings being adapted. I do not believe there has been enough research on what types of buildings are appropriate for people with autism, although I know a lot of research is going on at the moment. Even the foyer of a building has to be a certain shape and size and has to have a certain acoustic standard for people to be comfortable enough to go into the building. For example, if a child was brought to a pool, the pool echo can be heard from the front door and it is the most horrible building to go into, so they cannot even go there, and other public buildings such as busy train stations also have that type of environment. As Mr. Harris said, there has to be a calm environment from the start and there has to be a channel to lead to another calm environment. It is a real challenge for those with autism.

We can see how this works from the perspective of the blind community. Who would have thought we would have braille, a system that people understand through a bump on a footpath that means something? It is such an amazing system. I can see Mr. Kenny is referring to his notes in braille. It is amazing how it works and how people are able to read information from little packages. It is also good how the EU has gotten behind the blind community and has supported them like this. We are looking for the same support for the autistic community from the EU and from organisations like those represented here today.

It is great that we are having these discussions. My colleague spoke about lack of consultation. This is a great forum for consultation and we are delighted to hear from the witnesses and to have them come in. I know Mr. Harris is probably sick of coming in here but it is great to have him. The witnesses have such a wealth of knowledge. Today, they are talking about something completely different from what they came in to talk to us about a few months ago, given we are talking today about building regulations. They must have so many strings to their bows. This is such an important conversation.

We are usually here talking about how, when people get into the building, the professional they are going to see has to have some sort of autism training. Some organisations are doing great on that. I have a friend who is a pilot and he said recently that all of his colleagues who work for Ryanair had to have autism training, which is great and would not have happened even five years ago. They have to be super-aware of adults or individuals wearing lanyards. He says that when he sees the lanyard, he is in a different mode and he is trained to be calmer and more facilitative of the person, which is great.

I have a question for Mr. Kenny. Does RTÉ have those audio description, AD, facilities which describe what is going on? He can answer that at the end.

On a question for Dr. Hartney, as the Committee on Autism, we are very keen to have the Houses of the Oireachtas improved in terms of Leinster House being a building that is autism-friendly. Has Dr. Hartney or, indeed, Mr. Harris, engaged with the Oireachtas or had any discussions with it?

We discussed a register. Strong autism advocates would like to see an autism register. They see how it worked for the cystic fibrosis, CF, community in that once there was a CF register, we were able to say there are X number of people with CF who need X amount of support. Once the register was created, there was a big push to say that we need services or we need drugs. I am not saying it is perfect for the CF community, as it is far from that, but it has given that community a lot more momentum by having a register. It is a difficult discussion. It is a hard question as to whether we should have an autism register or a general disability register, given they are very different. Obviously, the adaptations that a person who is blind needs are different from those a person in a wheelchair or an autistic person needs. That is a question that we need to answer.

I know the Co-Chairman's committee is doing a lot of work on the Changing Places toilets. We are a total disgrace when it comes to Changing Places toilets. We need to really up our game because it is so difficult for people with teenagers or young adults who need to be changed. It is not fair. It is just wrong.

I thank the witnesses for attending. It is been great listening to all of the speakers.