Dr. Yvonne Lynch:

When we look at not providing AAC, the losses are huge and we can see them at individual and societal level. If we take an adult with an acquired disability, we are going to see higher rates of social isolation and not being able to participate, and their quality of life is that much weaker. When we look at the children, it gets even more significant. If we think about how a speaking child learns language and learns to communicate, they say something and someone interacts back, and that is how they learn. Their school attainment is all through that interaction. If they do not have that opportunity, much of the time they can only communicate through their behaviour, so we see a lot of frustration, and a lot of lost opportunities around education. As time goes on, we are going to see that their chance of moving on to higher education, their chance of getting employment and their chance of an independent life is being reduced because they do not have this basic ability to communicate and the supports they need.

We also have to think of it from a societal point of view. If we look at someone like Professor Stephen Hawking, his contribution was all made happen through AAC. We have amazing Irish people who cannot communicate because they do not have access to AAC today and we are losing their contribution to society. We talk about being a rich society. I think we are poor without the ability of people with disabilities to contribute and be an active part of our society.