Dr. Amy Hassett:

I am very much in favour of remote work as a concept. All of the benefits listed are bang on the money. However, there are a couple of things. One of the things we are seeing at the moment is a massive rowback on working remotely. People are being pulled back into offices, not just necessarily being encouraged or invited to go back. We are seeing that people are being mandated to go back to offices. Flexible and remote working was one of the few wonderful benefits that came about during Covid, but it is not as strong as it used to be. We are also seeing that many disabled people are having to justify why they need remote working, which can be a very medicalised system. I know of numerous people who have been asked to provide a doctor's note to prove they need remote work. There is a lack of flexibility in the system, but it can tolerate flexibility. One of things that came up for us shortly after Covid is that remote working is not a replacement to making sure that workplaces are accessible. We have seen it happen after Covid that a disabled person would be offered the opportunity to work remotely instead of the employer making sure the workplace was accessible. That is not inclusion. It is a different form of discrimination and it is not appropriate either. We are worried about that happening to a greater extent.

Someone mentioned wheelchair-accessible taxis earlier. They are an important part for facilitating disabled people going into workplaces and I thought it might be useful to bring that to the committee's attention for a later day. It is very much related to disabled people's access to work. There are not enough wheelchair-accessible taxis. However, a bigger part of the issue and something the disability matters committee could look at directly is that some wheelchair-accessible taxis are not accepting wheelchair occupants. It has happened me multiple times that I have requested a wheelchair-accessible taxi and they have driven off when they see my wheelchair.

It is very difficult to challenge those situations. We need to look at the system that is happening behind the scenes. That is something that the disability matters committee could take a lead on. It is also something that our sister DPO, Independent Living Movement Ireland, ILMI, has been working on. As a facilitator for ensuring that disabled people can access work, it is something worth considering looking at down the line.