Ms Aprille Lane:

I thank everyone for inviting me to speak today. I am a full-time wheelchair user due to multiple sclerosis, MS. I am a self advocate with lived experience and have been living with MS since 2008. One of my main issues for independent living is housing. I always say I am a wheelchair user living in a non-wheelchair-friendly world. I am living in rented accommodation with my husband and six-year-old child, and I am worried that there is no support for me to be able to live in my home. It is impossible to get wheelchair-accessible accommodation to rent and I find I am extremely lucky to have a bungalow, at the very least, to live in. My husband has been working nights for the past ten years to be able to support us all as a family, but this means I have not been able to meet any housing criteria as his income is over the threshold. We are also not in a position to build a house which would meet my needs.

I had not fully realised how bad the struggle was until we went on our first ever family holiday to Center Parcs where we stayed in wheelchair-accessible accommodation for four nights. I cried at the shock of how easy it was to live there. I could now do the simple everyday things with ease. I could confidently and independently prepare food, make the tea, use the bathroom and shower, open and close doors and switch all lights on and off. I could do all of this with such ease. But then it was back to life in the real world where I realised even more how bad my struggles were on a day-to-day basis. The solutions to my housing needs are out of my hands, so the best I can do today is to explain to all here how I am feeling and what I am going through.

My next point is to talk about how dangerous and inaccessible the footpaths are in my hometown. I do not feel safe using the footpaths and I have on many occasions had to use the road instead to get where I needed to go. Only last week I almost fell from my chair because of a dip that was on the footpath for drainage or some such purpose. I also cannot understand why there is no flat surface to get onto the footpath when you park up your car. I feel like I am invisible and I would like to be included in any discussions on a local basis to fix any of these issues around the town.

A further point is that I feel excluded from so many social events for the simple reason of not having any accessible toilets to use. Most restaurants, bars, hotels and banks, etc., do not even meet these simple needs. My answer to most invitations to any gatherings is "No". I am from a large town and I feel I cannot get involved in most things in the community because of the toilet situation. It is a simple thing that people take for granted but it is such a massive thing in my world.

That is it for today. I could go on and on but I will just leave it at that and I thank the Cathaoirleach and all the committee members.