Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

The title is "International Human Rights Day — Still Rhetoric for Disabled People". It was published in a disability magazine called Forum News.

The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act contains the prescription of resources. Even though this Act has been passed, an attempt is being made within the education system to introduce a weighted system for children with special needs so that the Department of Education and Science does not even guarantee an assessment. As Deputy Neville stated, many schools will lose out on resource teaching because of the weighted system being introduced. This is in contravention of the concept of an assessment of needs for the individual child. A system is being introduced whereby schools are allocated a certain amount of resources within which the children's needs are to be catered for. This is totally against the spirit of focusing on the needs of the individual whose needs are not being addressed.

The independent living movement has been a strong advocate for the right of people with disabilities to control their own lives and the right for those who use wheelchairs and those with special needs to have a personal assistant. The person with the disability should be in control of the employment of the assistant. The Disabled People of Clare organisation was threatened with the loss of funding by the local health board, the Mid-Western Health Board. The health board had decided to put out to tender the provision of services for people with physical disabilities. A different organisation won the tender, in other words, it will assume responsibility for providing services to all those in County Clare with physical disabilities. While the Disabled People of Clare group has nothing against the organisation in question, which does good work, its approach is different in that it addresses the individual needs of the person in a particular way, applying the philosophy of the independent living movement. The health board decision to stop funding the group means it will no longer be able to continue its work. This sounds a warning about giving health boards control over the assessment of need.

There is a fear that attempts will be made to streamline what is being done and impose a one-size-fits-all approach, which would result in the philosophy developed in the disability movement being lost, bureaucratised and controlled. I ask the Minister to take into account the example I have outlined because it exemplifies the different kinds of thinking in the disability movement and possible attempts to streamline them.

As other speakers have noted, the assessment relates only to health and education. Contrary to the remarks of the Minister's colleagues, it does not relate to housing and employment. The disability movement expected the assessment of need to be much broader and to be followed by a statement of need set in a much wider context than provided for in the Bill.

The Education Act deals with children from school-going age onwards, that is, from primary school until the age of 18 years. As Deputy Stanton will recall, when the Joint Committee on Education and Science debated this issue, members were told that the needs of the pre-school child and those aged above 18 years would be addressed in the Disability Bill. There is no sign of joined up thinking in the Bill. It is important, particularly for pre-school children, that provision is seamless. This means an assessment of need should be carried out early in the child's life when a need is detected and support for the child continues throughout childhood and into adulthood. The Bill does not provide such continuity, I ask the Minister to ensure it does.

The introduction of the weighted system in the Department of Education and Science indicates a lack of awareness of the need to provide for individual children from an early age, through the education system and beyond. Problems arise with regard to children starting primary school. Although they may have received services provided by the relevant health board before starting school, these services do not automatically continue, which means the school must apply to have the child's needs met, despite the fact that an assessment of needs will have been carried out by the health board prior to the child starting school.

The Bill does not give rights to people with disabilities. Groups which have invested considerable work in preparing for the legislation are disappointed. I hope the Minister will respond to their concerns by ensuring the Bill, when enacted, is much stronger than at present and contains real rights.

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