Ms Saoirse Smith:

Like Mr. Moran said, we should be keeping our cards and everything else. There also needs to be better communication and understanding of what disabilities are. The people who are making these decisions do not know what it is like to live with a disability and do not know what a disability is. They jut put us all into boxes - that one has a chair, that one has this - but there are different aspects. We are all different. We need to have people with disabilities in government to help with these decisions. That is a major need because people who do not have disabilities do not understand and are not going to understand until we tell them. That is what we should do and we do do it.

Regarding housing, I was actually rejected on medical grounds because I am deemed to be in adequate housing. Like Mr. Nelson, I am living in the extension that was given to me when I was ten years old. I am 1,000th on the list for housing. The housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme does not pay enough for an apartment. One council gives this amount and others give another amount. It is so confusing. Landlords are also not keen to take HAP. It is hard.

This country disables us. That affects me mentally. My disability does not depress me. I am proud to be disabled. I am proud to be a woman. What makes me depressed is the way this country treats us, the way this country makes me feel. It is not the people but how it is run. It is how we are treated by our own Government. I am constantly having to have my mam speak for me because I an not listened to. I am treated like a child and I am not a child. I also had ten minutes when I was a kid in a school doing my examinations. That Niamh is having that same experience is ridiculous. I went to college for seven years because I did not have the right assistance in school. I did not go to college for seven years to get a degree to be treated like a child. I just want us to finally be listened to and for things to change, for us to have a more independent and equal life like everyone else.