Mr. Joe McGrath:

I am a committee member of the National Platform of Self Advocates, NPSA. The platform is an organisation for people with intellectual disabilities run by people with intellectual disabilities. We work to make sure the rights of people with intellectual disabilities are respected. I thank the committee for inviting me to speak about a rights-based approach to disability in mental health.

People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience difficulties with our mental health because of the discrimination we face so this issue is very important to us. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, sets out how to take a rights-based approach to mental health. I will give a few examples of how the Government can do this for people with intellectual disabilities.

We should have the same choice as everyone else about where and with whom we live. The UNCRPD states that we have the right to live independently and be included in our community. The State should support us to do this. Even though the Government promised over ten years ago that it would make this happen, people with intellectual disabilities are still living in group homes where their choices are limited. People might think these smaller homes do not impact on our mental health because they seem a bit better than the big institutions we had before, but simply using a different name for an institution does not change how it feels to live there.

People with intellectual disabilities should have the same access to jobs and training as everyone else. My job helped me with my mental health during the pandemic.

The HSE is developing mental health and intellectual disability teams and it is important these teams be based and offer care in the community. Information about the mental healthcare these teams offer should be available in accessible formats like "easy to read" so people with intellectual disabilities can make choices about what treatment they want and do not want. Teams should talk to people with intellectual disabilities so they can tell them what services they want and need for their mental health.

The Mental Health Act 2001 states that a "mental disorder" includes a "significant intellectual disability". I feel strongly that having an intellectual disability should never be a reason for me or anyone else to be detained and treated against our will. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has said the same thing.

I ask the members of the committee who are working on changing the Mental Health Act to ensure it does not treat people with intellectual disabilities unequally. It also should not allow anyone with a disability to be treated differently for their mental health than they would be for their physical health. If the Government keeps the promises it made when it signed up to the UNCRPD, many issues which impact on the mental health of people with intellectual disabilities will be improved. It will also mean mental health services will be accessible to us. The Government needs to talk to us and take on board what we tell them. A rights-based approach to disability in mental health means respecting and listening to what people with intellectual disabilities have to say and what we need to support and improve our mental health.