Mr. Joe McGrath:

I will focus on the lack of community supports in line with the UNCRPD if living in congregated settings or in the community. In addition to the lack of services and under-provision of existing resources, community support services are still delivered on a diagnosis basis.

In addition to the lack of services and under-provision of existing resources, community support services are still developed on a diagnosis basis which is burdensome to navigate and excludes significant participation of disabled people who need supports to live full lives in their communities. Among other essential community supports, it is time for a needs-based personal assistance service, PAS, to be established on a national statutory basis. We also need access to augmentative and alternative communications, AAC, supports, including Irish Sign Language, ISL, Braille and AAC for non-speakers to be made available to disabled people, irrespective of where they live.

The core principles of community development - empowerment, collective action, participation and equality and social justice - reflect the values of the work of DPOs. There is a real need for community development approaches and supports to be directed towards the development of DPOs locally and nationally. With appropriate resources, we could employ staff to build our collective capacity. We could set up processes and systems to encourage the participation of disabled people in collective strategic thinking. We should be supported to seek our place as DPOs in social inclusion structures and to nominate our representatives not only in order to bring our issues to the table but to have the discussions brought back to our organisations. It would allow us to move away from individuals bringing their own lived experience to the table and allow us to work on the issues that affect us all. Appropriate investment in DPOs would also resource the participation of disabled people in national forums. In many spaces the only people sitting at the table who are tasked with attending meetings in a non-paid capacity are disabled people, who are expected to give their time and expertise for free. With investment in DPOs, we can either employ staff or resource and support volunteers to bring the collective authentic voice.