Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 3 July 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters

Enabling Community Inclusion for People with Disabilities (Resumed): Disability Equality Specialist Support Agency

5:30 pm

Ms Alice Griffin:

It is to build capacity of the community and development sector primarily. That is why we were established. The community and development organisations in the community and development sector have a role and responsibility regarding social inclusion. Our job is to bring the technical capacity to organisations in order for them to understand what we mean by disability, to identify what the barriers within their organisations or local communities are and how to address those barriers that prevent inclusion. Over the years we have produced and published guidance documents on inclusive playground design and accessible community facilities. We developed and published a social inclusion charter for family resource centres to sign up to in the context of the UNCRPD. It is very much about building the capacity of organisations that have a social inclusion remit to be inclusive of disabled people and their families.