Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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For all of us on the committee a common theme is the word "silo". The silos that exist in the system is a recurring theme. Finding a mechanism to break down those silos and having cohesive action is important. Someone mentioned the idea of society understanding and accepting this condition. It is a huge challenge for us to make broader society aware of the issue. I am the parent of a young autistic boy. I am by no means an expert but I have some knowledge of the condition. Tomorrow we will make sure that the community in the Houses of the Oireachtas has a better understanding. Members of both Houses will have training that will give them a better understanding. It is important for us, as the seat of government, to make those changes in the physical infrastructure and also in our knowledge as public representatives. I hope that would filter down through the various Departments to the local authorities and ultimately into society so that everyone has a better knowledge and understanding of autism.

Training was mentioned and that is part of what we are doing. I firmly believe that teacher training needs to be changed. There needs to be more modules on special education within teacher training. At present there is very little. Representatives from the Middletown Centre for Autism have appeared before the committee. We have travelled to Armagh, funded by the State and the Northern Ireland Executive. We are not utilising and getting the benefit of an organisation that is seen as using best practice. It is well recognised at a European level. As has been mentioned today, there are other professionals as well. We need to roll out training across the teaching profession and to parents as well. We have heard evidence here and I know it from personal experience that some of the training being given to parents is being done professionals within the CDNTs. We have a lack of professional staff in the CDNTs. We are left with a situation where we have professionals giving training to parents while they should be working with the children and adults who are their responsibility.

I fully agree that the training needs to be replicated throughout the country for parents, teacher and professionals to give us a better understanding of the condition across society.

In her report Nem spoke about the AAC and we have had discussions on assistive technology here. A young lad from County Mayo, Fiacre Ryan, is the first non-verbal youngster with autism to do the leaving certificate. He was nominated for an award for his book "Speechless" over the Christmas period. He used assistive technology and the rapid prompting method, RPM. There seems to be a blockage in regard to this being used and rolled out but the technology is there. Deputy O'Murchú suggested we meet a lady whose name escapes me now. She is working at the cutting edge of technology in this area. That is where we need to go. We need to use that technology to help young kids and adults to transition to college and indeed help them to communicate in their daily lives. The world is moving at a very fast pace and we need to move with it. We need to use the technology to help people on the autism spectrum as best we can.

I direct this question to Ms O'Donnell-Killen and Ms Doyle. They stated that they envision a world where society would move away from medical and charity models and embrace the social model. What exactly is meant by moving away from the medical model?