Ms Shelly Gaynor:

Just to back Mr. Kenny up on that, I feel like a parrot here today. Personal assistance services should not be referred to as “care”. That is the medical model. We are in 2023. I, and many thousands of people around the country, identify as disabled persons and do not require care. As I said, and I will keep saying it, just because I need assistance to get out of bed, I do not think of that as care. When I am in hospital, I need care. The PA service was not set up 30 years ago to deliver care. It was about giving people with a disability choice, control and freedom over their own lives. If we learn anything today, it should be that the PA service should be legalised and standardised. People should stop referring to it as “care” because it is not care. That is the part of the problem. We are meant to be operating under the social model of disability. We are now in 2023. I do not need care. I run my own company. I have a direct payment, as many of my peers within the disability community do. There are many times that we care for our staff. Please do not say that if someone uses a PA service as a model of support that it is “care” because it is not care.