Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Committee on Disability Matters

Progressing the Delivery of Disability Policy and Services: Discussion

2:00 am

Mr. Damien Walsh:

It is under Article 7, but this is the point that the prioritisation of DPOs should be that they are trying to engage to get with the collective lived experience. If you talk to young disabled people, one of the things they are crying out for is to see disabled adults in the system leading those conversations. If parents of disabled children were given the time and space to ask what the future will look like by talking to disabled adults, that could shift their expectations and their thinking. That is really important. This is not a critique of parenting. It is very tough. Again, we are pointing out the pressure around assessment of need and the pressure from the lack of services. It is very hard to envisage that future whereby inclusion could become a reality. That is really important. The fragmentation is a reality, but that is because we probably do not at this point have a shared language or a shared vision.