Ms Jacqui Browne:

I thank Senator Clonan for his kind comments and his questions. Some of the issues that I would also have with qualitative research speak to a lot of the conversation that we have had here this morning. Much of the current qualitative research is based on the medical model of disability so it might not answer the questions posed by the Senator and in which we are interested. Again, I will go back to a lot of what Dr. Elliott spoke to, namely what is the basis of the research and is it done in consultation with disabled people. Nem Kearns and Ms Hassett spoke about being consulted and involved directly with participatory action and research. Some of the qualitative research that I have seen, and other databases other than the CSO stuff, tends to be data or qualitative analysis that is based on medical settings so we only know little pockets of information about people in receipt of HSE-funded services or how many people are on a waiting list but that information does not include all disabled people. Therefore, we are not getting the full picture in terms of the range of population, the numbers and the issues faced by disabled people.

Another big problem in this country are transition points such as the transition from babies to children. When a person reaches 18 years of age, it seems that all of a sudden one drops off the cliff of one service and belongs nowhere. As Ms Murphy pointed out, there is the potential that she will drop off another cliff in terms of services when she graduates from college to even consider the next step to take in her career. These breaks in services are extremely challenging for people and create a huge worry at a personal level. Apart from trying to deal with studying, building a career, having a family, whatever or a combination of things, extra stresses and burdens are placed on disabled people unnecessarily. We must address these transition points and address the rights of disabled people across the life spectrum.