Nem Kearns:

I thank Senator Flynn. Her comments and insights are always appreciated. That is an aspect I was trying to fundamentally raise, that is, that this Bill could be of use and could be valuable if it sets out a clear pathway. I remain concerned about the lack of clarity for the people it is impacting as well as for me representing our organisation. If this is a cohesive part of a broader whole, it can have value. If this is a "separate but equal" strategy and stream, that is not what is needed. That is not a way to advance the full rights of autistic people in their many and varied identities across all aspects of their lives. We have an opportunity here to make sure this is as valuable as possible but that does entail discussion.

It also entails direct consultation with the people who will be impacted by this. I would like to mention and state very clearly that while all stakeholders need to be heard and all stakeholders need to be part of the process, the jobs of various stakeholders are different. The job of a disabled person's organisation, DPO, is different. The majority of autistic children have autistic or otherwise neurodivergent parents. All autistic adults were autistic children, so there is not a distinction. We tend to talk about parents' groups, carers' groups and autistic groups. That is a very artificial distinction and there should be no reason for the views and overarching concerns of those groups to come into conflict unless we are creating a system that is creating conflict by saying, "Only your voice, or your voice, will be heard". Unfortunately, those are the systems we have inherited and those are the systems we are still maintaining.

I also want to go back to the point of there being different roles and different jobs. There is also a very good reason the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls for the prioritisation of consultation with the affected community through their DPOs as a foundational part of advancing the entire convention and all of the human rights it contains. I do not feel sufficient attention is being given to that. It is great that Autism Ireland was consulted and its insight is welcome but it is not a DPO. It is also important to state the vast majority of autistic people are neurodivergent in more than one way. The vast majority of autistic people are disabled in more than one way. There are well-documented connections with conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and many others which means that many of us are wheelchair users. We have members in the blind community and in the LGBTQ community. We really need to bring in and consult with that breadth and depth of representative organisations. There are LGBTQ disabled persons organisations. There are cross-impairment DPOs. Why are they not part of this conversation? I feel that is a great oversight.

To go back to community, I hear what the Senator is saying, that it is always a bit of a double-edged sword. None of us who are members particularly of any marginalised community or minority community wants to be put in that little box and stereotyped. I am also a member of the LGBTQ community. That is obviously a hugely broad community. I have as much not in common as I have in common with it but it is a shared identity. There are shared experiences and commonalities, as there is within the autistic community. We are an extremely varied community but we are a community. We come together to create our own spaces, as evidenced by AsIAm, and Neuro Pride. We are a community who have come together to celebrate identity and create a festival, to be able to speak with peers and represent ourselves on the matters and issues that affect us. Yes, we are not all the same but we are a community and I would like to recognise that wonderful community I am speaking on behalf of today.