Ms Paula Soraghan:

I thank the Chair very much. For us, it is definitely very important that the supports move from this idea of seeing disability as a personal problem and something that is wrong with the person. People need specialised supports, because we find there is quite a paternalistic approach. Although there are a lot of wonderful people within the system and they are well-meaning, the current approach does not work. It does have a negative effect on young disabled people's sense of self and their self-esteem. They believe that because what they see is that they have a "disability", they then internalise that and believe that they cannot do X, Y and Z. That then goes beyond school and produces the expectations they have of a future outside of school and into employment, etc. Therefore, we would be passionate about making sure that personal assistance is legislated for so that it becomes a right.

We have campaigned for personal assistance to be a right in Ireland for everybody who needs it. We have had major success but the next step needs to be taken, so that when it comes to the assessments of need, it is a person-centred approach rather than a tick-the-box exercise where disability is seen as a medical issue and an impairment. We find that is quite rigid and it can lower expectations and limit the state of people's outcomes and opportunities. We would encourage getting as much support as we can. We have had a lot of TD support, for example, Deputy Pringle has been a huge supporter of the personal assistance campaign, which we welcome. Other TDs have supported us as well, which has been fantastic. We would encourage more support in that regard.

We would definitely see as important the need to bridge the gap that has been mentioned between supports for disabled children and when they reach adulthood. There is a gap, and people often then fall off. It is more about inclusive education and supports and being person-centred, so that it is what the disabled person needs. It is around the holistic approach and, again, making sure that young disabled people have the spaces to engage with other disabled people from a social point of view and that they are informed about policy that affects them. It is making sure their capacity is built around what changes they can make and that they are at the table, so to speak, so that they can take on representation roles and be involved in their local and national disabled people's organisation, DPO, and be an agent for change in their communities.

As I mentioned previously, many young disabled people are feeling isolated. They feel they are not part of a community, so to speak, whereas if DPOs were resourced appropriately on a multi-annual basis, that would address that issue. We would welcome more support in terms of the upcoming elections and more support from Government around the value of DPOs. There has been a lot of work thus far and a lot of support, which we welcome. We would encourage that to continue so we can continue our work and take it to the next step.

Although we are doing great work, we do have a limited amount of resources. We are very passionate about what we do, and we know that if we were given more resources and more funding on a multi-annual basis, we would be able to employ more staff, have more campaigns and carry out more work that we know will have a massive positive effect on young disabled people's lives.