Dr. Gerald Craddock:

The National Disability Authority, NDA, thanks the Chair and the members of this committee for the opportunity to present on the topic of accessibility of the public realm for people with autism. I am joined by my colleague Ms Mary Tallant, senior standards and monitoring officer.

The NDA provides independent and evidence-informed advice to the Government on policy and practice relevant to the lives of disabled people, informed by engagement with relevant stakeholders, including disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, such as AsIAm, which was before the committee earlier, as well as persons with disabilities, older people and professional bodies. The centre for excellence in universal design at the NDA promotes the universal design of built and digital environments, services and systems.

It is important to note that a universal design approach also caters for the needs of people with autism and other neurodiverse conditions. We view autism as a different ability rather than a disability. This is an enabling approach, not only for the person with autism but also for practitioners in facilitating their full participation. Universal design is central in creating an environment that is accessible, understandable and usable by everyone and disadvantages nobody.

Our public realm is still not designed to be fully inclusive and welcoming for disabled people, including those with autism and their families in key areas such as transport, public spaces, buildings as well as key life domains such as education and employment. We know from our work that disabled people regularly encounter issues such as poorly designed public spaces and buildings through a lack of awareness and planning; the lack of adjustability of lighting, acoustics, temperature and ventilation; a lack of clear and easy to use signage; the lack of poor pre-visit information about the accessibility of buildings; a lack of quiet spaces for people who get sensory overload; and a lack of training of staff to build disability awareness and competence in the organisation.

We advise the committee of the importance of its consideration and inclusion of the following in its deliberations and in its report. A universal design approach is a central element in designing more inclusive services and buildings that enable autistic persons to fulfil their potential. Educational institutions should design their campuses to be more inclusive and the content of the curriculums and assessment processes should be designed to cater for the diversity of students and staff who are now part of all educational organisations. This will also ensure graduates are educated and knowledgeable about how to design more inclusive buildings, services and products into the future. It should reference key documents that can support professionals today in designing and delivering more inclusive solutions and important national accessibility monitoring functions that provide, and will provide, valuable data going forward on measuring how inclusive public services, buildings and digital services are for disabled people, including persons with autism. It should highlight the development of a new national standard on universal design of dwellings which will ensure key issues, some of which I have already mentioned, are included to improve the lives of persons with autism and neurodiverse conditions.

There are a number of key publications the NDA has produced that might be important for this committee.

The centre is developing a new code of practice and accessible public buildings for the purpose of informing public bodies of their obligations relating to the accessibility of public buildings. This draft document is currently undergoing public consultation and will be submitted to the Minister for approval before the end of the year.

The NDA has also updated the existing code of practice on accessible public services and information to include specific references to autism. This updated code of practice is awaiting approval from the Minister. The NDA has the responsibility to monitor its codes of practice and publish its findings. We will be publishing our first report on access officers later this year.

On an annual basis, the NDA monitors the accessibility of public websites and mobile apps as well as the percentage of disabled people employed in the public sector. The resulting data is published and available to the public.

The NDA is developing a national standard on universal design dwellings in collaboration with the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, to be completed in 2024. The centre has produced a series of ten booklets called "Building for Everyone: A Universal Design Approach". Booklet 9 specifically focuses on more inclusive planning. This booklet is aimed at planning professionals and provides guidance on how to deliver, promote and achieve universal design within the planning system. It highlights the importance of a collaborative approach to planning.

We have also published research on shared spaces in the Irish context. The report found that most stakeholders supported the general aims of shared space but expressed concerns about safety. There was broad consensus that Ireland needs a set of national shared space design guidelines, directed by the principles of universal design. It would be important for local authorities to review the findings and begin addressing the recommendations through indepth stakeholder engagement with disable persons organisations, DPOs, and persons with disabilities, including people with autism.

On education, we are working closely with the Higher Education Authority, HEA, on the delivery of the Programme for Access to Higher Education, PATH, 4 programme. This is a fund provided by the HEA to build capacity in third level institutions to incorporate universal design as a core part of the built digital environment as well as teaching and learning. The centre launched a new elearning continuing professional development, CPD, module last year aimed at professionals involved in the design and procurement of buildings but open to anyone interested in universal design in the built environment. The module provides participants with a case study of a universally designed public building, bringing them through the design, highlighting accessible features and presenting the real life benefits from interviews and users.

Finally, the NDA is also currently updating its existing elearning training module on disability awareness aimed at public sector staff. I thank members and am open to questions on any of the above.