Ms Joan Carthy:

In respect of housing, the part M regulations refer to accommodation being visitable. In other words, a person can visit their friend or cousin, the front door is wider, the entrance is flat and there should be a downstairs bathroom, which is usually never accessible because it is under the stairs. We are looking for accommodation to be liveable such that a person can get a house through social housing or privately that they can live in because it is wheelchair accessible. It would have downstairs bathroom facilities - an accessible bathroom. It is based on the needs of people with disabilities living in the community. When the housing needs analysis was done there were over 4,000 people with disabilities on the housing list. They were seen as being the biggest single group of people with a need for housing.