Ms Eileen Daly:

Following on from what Ms Hassett said, I agree that supports need to follow people throughout their life cycle. I know many young people who desperately want and who have had the opportunity for employment, but many of them have been unable to take up such offers of employment because they do not have the right to a personal assistant, PA, to support them if they need that support. Additionally, the major issue here is that employers do not understand the role of a PA in the workplace. This is another issue on which there needs to be a great deal of education and awareness.

To finish, I will focus on access to healthcare and some of the actions that must happen in this regard. Access to healthcare is a major challenge for many disabled women, particularly if they need the support of a PA and equipment to transfer from a wheelchair, for example, onto an examination table or something like that. Therefore, the first point is that the environment is not physically accessible enough to meet the needs of many people, including mine. Second, many healthcare professionals do not understand or have never been informed or educated about the role of a PA in healthcare settings. Many people, and I have personal experience of this, do not want their families involved in their healthcare provision.

Those people have been living independently in the community with the support of their PAs for all their adult life and they want to continue that. Many of us also want the support of family members and that should be a right. However, if someone chooses not to have a family member's support, that should also be a right. I feel strongly that we need to educate in universities such as the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin and everywhere that provides training. I would be more than happy to be involved in programmes to do that. This is urgent. Many men and women are excluded from basic healthcare services. They are terrified to access them.

Returning to a point made earlier, there is a lack of understanding around personal space and bodily integrity for many people. People become ill. Others invade one's space when one needs a specific service. One's voice is forgotten. One may be in a position where one is ill and at that moment unable to articulate what one wants and needs. All these things need to be addressed. Disabled people and their advocates need to be involved in the process. We must be aware that it may not always be someone's wish for a support person to be a family member. He or she might prefer someone independent. It should be that person's choice and within his or her control.