Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Harris, personally, and AsIAm for the continuing valuable support they have given the committee. I will not presume to speak for others on the committee, but when I became a member, I was terrified to open my mouth because I was afraid to say the wrong thing. AsIAm's training and the confidence it gave us were invaluable in the sense that I felt I could engage with the issue and go out and talk to people without being terrified of putting my foot in my mouth. I thank Mr. Harris for that.

Regarding the recommendations Mr. Harris would like to see in the report, he has emphasised legislation, which is front and centre. This committee has done great work and great credit is due to the Chair on that, not least in bringing the voices of autistic people to the fore, including bringing people to the meeting we had in the Seanad Chamber, which was very powerful. If this committee is to have a meaningful legacy, it will be the legislation because that is not about this Government or the next one; it is about Governments into the future. That is where it becomes binding and meaningful. I would certainly like to see that recommendation in the report.

I am very struck by the discussion of structural discrimination. Going back to my being terrified when this committee started its work, we all see the world through our own eyes. Unless we get the input of that experience from other people, we cannot be expected to know. That awareness piece is very important to our understanding the challenges. Rather than an approach that aims at integration we need to look more at inclusion. Mr. Harris mentioned the behaviour-based guidelines from the Department of Education. In dealing with our own children or in dealing with children in school, as I used to do, we all know that behaviour comes from somewhere and is asking for something. If we are only managing the behaviour, we are failing to understand where the behaviour came from and what it is designed to achieve. It can be much more difficult in the case of an autistic child to understand where that behaviour came from. By trying to get that understanding we will really move to inclusion.

I was very struck by what Mr. Harris said about the autism-friendly communities. Waterford is trying to become the first autism-friendly city. Our built environments should not make anybody feel like the broken one - the phrase Mr. Harris used. We need to do more than just set up islands of safety. For example, people who work in libraries appeared before the committee and they spoke about establishing those kinds of islands of safety within our cities. However, we need to make all our built environment much more inclusive of neurodiverse people so that they can feel as though they can move around their own world independently. It comes down to people being able to see the world through those eyes, the increased legibility that Mr. Harris spoke about, the predictability, this sensory environment, making sure that things are not overpowering.

Later, representatives from the Irish planning institute will appear before the committee. In their submission they stated that at their recent CPD webinar on universal design and inclusive public spaces, they heard that public spaces do not meet the current requirements for neurodiverse people. If we are just setting up pockets where neurodiverse people feel safe and not allowing them free movement between them, we are missing a trick.

I reiterate my thanks. It has been a major learning experience for me. We certainly need to focus on that legacy piece. We need to continue to focus, as this committee has done, on raising awareness so that we are not blind to the structural discrimination and inequality that are built into our society. We need to ensure we have a universal design that allows people to participate to the greatest extent possible within their own society.