Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in this evening. I am a little bit lost with this Bill, to be honest and very fair. As a member of the Traveller community, I know what it is like to be put in a corner and told, "You are Traveller and this is how it is going to be for you", as it is for many other people within my community. I am afraid a Bill like the one in front of us will segregate people who are autistic and I do not want to be part of that, or part of agreeing a Bill that may not work for people who are autistic. I am delighted to have the witnesses here in front of us today to address some of the concerns I have about this Bill.

We have heard comments about the autistic community. I do not believe there is such a thing. I am saying this as an non-autistic person. I do not believe there is such a thing as an autistic community. I believe there are people in the world and in Ireland who are autistic and who obviously go through organisations such as AsIAm and connect together, but I do not believe it is a big community. I am finding it very hard with some of the language in this committee. I was on the Joint Committee on Autism. I am also currently on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. As a society and as a country, we have failed and are continuing to fail people with disabilities in this country, including people who are autistic. Earlier I said it does not matter what the colour of your skin is or what community you come from because people from all walks of life can be autistic. That is important.

My concern with the Bill is about the language. If we are going to put something in law, it has to work for the people who are impacted - nothing about us without us - but this seems to be a Bill that was not very dialogued with people. I do not even know if I am saying that right but were people included in the decision? The two Deputies said they did consultation with Autism Ireland and AsIAm. What was that like? Where did the decision come from for such a Bill? That is what I would be interested in knowing. As Nem has said, some of the language in the Bill has changed and we have addressed some of the concerns around data protection. In the previous session I said people should be able to say on the census form every few years what disability they have so we can gather information on how many people in Ireland are autistic.

I do not know. I am going to be very honest and upfront. I believe it is better to have something than nothing at all for people who are autistic, but if there was a vote right now I think I would abstain. I would love some clarity around how the members of the organisations present and the people the witnesses work with feel about this Bill and what needs to be changed. We should look at the Disability Act of 2005 and that should be our starting point, but it is not up to me to say that. It is people who are autistic who should have a voice around this Bill, not the likes of me. I am just teasing out some of these questions. I apologise if my language is not politically correct. The witnesses should please correct me if I said anything they did not appreciate. I am open to learning. It is just my own experience around segregating people, putting people into boxes and not having something that is fit for purpose. The Disability Act, in my opinion, is not fit for purpose. It needs to be reformed. Some of it is good but the majority is not up to date.