Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologies for being late. I watched some of the discussion from my office. I welcome Ms Kenny in particular with no disrespect to anyone else, but she is from my home county of Longford and I know she has been doing very good work there with the Independent Living Movement Ireland over the past could of years and she is very welcome. To me she has hit the nail on the head in her last statement that the media represents society and unfortunately we have to change society's view of people with disabilities. There is a lot to do and that is something the media need to step up to.

I chair the Joint Committee on Autism and have done for the last number of months, and we have been looking at making recommendations to make changes and give opportunities, particularly to young children, to get the same chance in life every other child gets. They are quite entitled to it. Every day when I come in the hallway I see a copy of the Proclamation from 1916 that was signed and states that we must cherish all the children of the State equally. Some 105 years later we are not and we are not giving the same opportunities to those who have different abilities. That has to change. There has to be more inclusion in society and the media has to play a role in that. What we read in written media and listen to on local radio and television, the reality is that and the Future of Media Commission report found that over 75% of people trust the information they see on that whereas what they read on social media to be honest is down at 30% of what is not fact so there is a responsibility on the media in general to represent society. We need an equal society and we need inclusion in society. I will be quite honest that we are not there yet and we have a bit to go.

I looked up a witness that came to our Joint Committee on Autism meeting before Christmas and that was young Fiacre Ryan from Mayo who was the first non-verbal child to sit the leaving certificate who is now in third level education in the Atlantic Technological University, ATU, in Castlebar. His statement which was read by his mother spoke about some of the challenges he had being heard because he was non-verbal and autistic. I will read a couple of lines of what he said:

We do not assume that deaf or blind people have lesser intelligence. Why so with autism? ... It only seems appropriate to give the same rights given to those without autism [I am just speaking of autism but it is a disability] to individuals with it. Needing some type of assistance does not make someone less of a person...Try to see past the autism and realise we are the same inside as others.

Society needs to change and the perception society has needs to change and the media has a huge role in that. Mr. Ryan finished his statement by saying that:

Talk is our utmost difference and we are silenced when we spell what others do not want to know. Please listen today to the voices of those who have been silenced by our society. It is time that they are heard, valued, and understood.

That is from a young lad of 20 years of age and he has encapsulated what a lot of people probably feel in society. That is what we need to move to, a society of inclusion and give everybody of every ability the same opportunity in life and to achieve.

I also want to comment on the State boards. That was an excellent point put forward by Deputy Mythen and we need to put that at the minimum there must be a representative from the disability sector on every single State board. We need to lead by example as a Government in doing that. It is only since our committee was set up that the process is under way in Leinster House to be an autism-friendly building. We need to lead by example at Government and push these things and that is where it should start at a minimum that on a State board there has to be representatives of the disability and indeed youth sectors. The youth are our future and their voices need to be heard, without doubt. I know Senator Cassells spoke about a proposal for a youth committee in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, which was put forward and that is the way we need to go. We need to listen to our youth and need to represent the full society. Particularly with disabilities we need full inclusion in society. Media represents society so it has a huge role to play. I thank the witnesses for their comments and wish them well and continued success in advocating for those they represent. That is out job as well at Oireachtas level, to advocate on their behalf to make sure we as a State change what we need to change to make sure there is full inclusion in our society.