Mr. Peter Kearns:

On Friday I had to pick up my daughter in posh Sandymount. I am from Coolock. I sat there and had a cup of coffee. I had working-class parents. Because I had a label of cerebral palsy or spastic, I had to go to a special school. I had to go to Enable Ireland in Sandymount but I escaped to Ballymun comprehensive. My daughter is in Sandymount. She is a speech and language therapist. She is not that good – I am joking. A disabled child now has the choice to go to a normal local school. That has changed and the State has supported that. Many young people have access to the same options as their peers, which I did not have. That shows there is improvement.

If we go back to the narrative that if you have an impairment label your life is not as valued as somebody else’s, the danger is many young people might think about assisted suicide.