Ms Amy Hassett:

There were two questions. Is it still difficult to be included in consultation? The answer, unfortunately, is “Yes”. We are still working in a system that is inaccessible, broadly speaking. Despite the fact that we have recently published guidelines by the National Disability Authority, NDA, and, more importantly, in context of the UNCRPD, we are still finding that consultations are conducted in a way that is inaccessible. It is difficult for us to get information in multiple formats, including easy-to-read and plain English versions. We are finding still that consultations are being held on very short timeframes and often overlap with one another. We have very limited resources in terms of how we can contribute to things. Under the UNCRPD, there is an obligation to consult with DPOs on an ongoing basis. We have yet to see that happen. Instead, we are being lumped in with the general public consultation process, which is inaccessible, not compliant with the UNCRPD and also just does not work very well. It would be good if we could sit down with departmental officials and talk through problems. Often, we are asked to consult on various items of legislation. However, we are disabled people. Some of us have a background in law and policy and some of us do not; I do not. Trying to understand and get through that information in the absence of accessible formats and proper supports is incredibly difficult. That process is not necessarily working very well in our favour as it currently stands.

On what the we need, when we come before this committee, we talk a lot about money. While we have an opportunity, I want to drill down a little into what we want to do. We are not just asking for money for the sake of it. We need money for things such as infrastructure, a website and Zoom accounts, all of which are currently paid for by member donations and people who donate speaking fees to us. We need money to host events. We know that there is a digital divide between disabled people. Some of us find online meetings and online communities inaccessible. We cannot currently meet in person because we do not have the resources to rent accessible places. We do not have money for Irish Sign Language and things like that.

It is also a massive effort for people to be involved in disability advocacy. It is a massive drain on their personal time and energy, which we are not compensating them for. There are many companies out there that consult with various different organisations, Government Departments and so on and so forth that get paid and compensated for their time. However, that does not happen for DPOs. If we could pay stipends or support our members in respect of the work they do for DWI, that would massively increase the accessibility of the work we do.

Setting aside the issue of money for a second, what are the other resources? I am sure Nem will add to this. We need capacity building. What does that mean? I said before that we have to talk about legislation and various different policy documents, which are often very dense and difficult for us to understand, particularly if one does not have a background. We are lucky in that we have a couple of people in DWI and externally with whom we can sit down. We can ask them to explain, for example, the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act if we do not understand what a certain section means, etc. The Government should support us in that. We should be able to go to officials in Departments and ask, for example, for the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act to be explained and we will tell them what is missing from it.

We also need capacity building in terms of how to write an effective policy document and how to write an effective submission on, for example, the Education for Persons with Special Needs Act. What is specifically being looked for and what are the specific things others would like to hear from us? How do we take the experiences of our members and translate that to the systemic part? For those of us who have a bit of experience in policy and advocacy, we know that where the problem is seen in the system is often not where it actually lies; it is about two or three steps removed. As disabled people, we can tell others what we are seeing on the ground. However, we do not have insight on understanding where that comes from in policy or legislation. We need support to be able to provide that insight.

What is good evidence? The other thing we would talk about is data collection. We do not have access to data and we are not being provided with data. Much of the time, it is because it is not accessible or not even collected. How do we construct an argument in a way that people will value what we have to say and accept the weight of that argument? How do we go from that lived experience to those structural problems?

On the structural things the State or Government bodies can do, they can focus on accessibility. It is about focusing on ensuring that the information is given to us in a way that is accessible. As a very recent example, the consultation period for the review of the Education for Persons with Special Needs Act is ongoing. The deadline has been extended until 24 March, but the announcement of that deadline from the State happened after 3 March, which was the original deadline. On 7 March, we were told that the deadline was being extended. We spent massive amounts of resources in trying to get a submission put together before that deadline, only to submit it and then be told we had an extra three weeks. We had to sacrifice doing other pieces of work to do that. We need accessibility in communication on the part of the State.

My final point is that we need ongoing consultation. We need to be able to consult with Departments outside of just a dedicated public consultation period. The last thing we need is to know that what we are doing has impact. We ask our members time and time again to consult, come along to a consultation and chat to us about various different topics. It is very difficult for us to go back to the members and say, “You told us this and this is the policy change that happened as a result of that.” We need that to gather momentum and continue with the momentum we have in the organisation in order that our people know that what they are doing has an impact. The change is slow and it takes a long time, but we need to know that what we are saying is being listened to, heard and it is influencing the policies that are being created.