Tom Clonan (Independent)
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It is great to hear that. I take the example of my son. He went to a mainstream school. He is now in third level and with a group or cohort of people who will be very familiar with a wheelchair and will not be afraid to ask how this works or what that is for. Before I got elected, my only experience of disability was our own family's journey. My son has a rare disease so we were never members of any collective group. Having come into this space, having been elected and having met organisations such as the witnesses', I am learning so much about the broader community. The stakeholder group was mentioned. I was a participant in the stakeholder group. It was just at the end of Covid and I remember seeing a screen with 60 to 70 people on it. One of the things about our community that strikes me is that it is very fragmented and divided and the politics is such that there seem to be many competing interests where there need not be. I always think that if we had, as a community, the cohesion the LGBTQI community has or the movement that was mobilised to repeal the eighth amendment had, it could be such a powerful lobby. Dr. Tamming asked who the people who do not know somebody with a disability are. We are all going to have a disability. We all acquire injuries, whether psychological or physical. Our cohort is expected to live until we are 100 years old, and we would like to live with some dignity in our homes, and for the State that is a no-brainer because it is far cheaper. The things we are looking for as a community, those little supports and scaffolding such as occupational therapists, OTs, physiotherapists and personal assistants, will benefit the whole of society. When we talk about those things in the language of fundamental human rights in the way that the LGBTQI community has done and in the way the repeal the eighth movement did, that is hopefully the way to bring about the improvements that are needed.

Again, I apologise that I had to leave. I thank the witnesses for the work they are doing. I will be in contact with them. I hope I can meet them at some point at their convenience to get some advice on some of the things I have in mind. I thank them again.