Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the national disability strategy. I have no doubt that the Minister of State is fully committed to her role and I am aware of both her passion for her job and her commitment to help people with disabilities. She knows what needs to be done but I am just afraid that hers might be a lone voice in the context of trying to implement the national disability strategy. My concerns in this regard were highlighted by the proposal in the budget that the allowance for young people with disabilities be cut. These young people are already excluded due to their disabilities and they cannot avail of labour activation measures operated by the Department of Social Protection. It will be very difficult for the Minister of State to challenge a mindset which would facilitate a reduction in a benefit aimed at the most vulnerable.

The 2011 survey on public attitudes to people with disabilities contains some interesting and also worrying findings. Some 44% of individuals believe that people with disabilities are treated fairly in society. However, 61% also believe that these people are not able to participate fully in society because of their disabilities. There certainly seems to be an element of confusion in this regard. There is a high rate of people - 21% to 24% - who are opposed to children with disabilities being taught in mainstream classrooms. This may reflect concern about the cuts in the number of SNAs that were taking place when the survey was being compiled. However, I am of the view that it may also reflect a deeper problem in society. Between 2006 and 2011, the figure for those who answered that it is society which disables people by creating barriers for them fell from 62% to 57%. In my view, this is an alarming answer to the question posed. The main task we must undertake - which is almost as important as that which relates to the provision of services - is to change societal attitudes to disability. The attitudes which have emerged from the survey to which I refer are the result of the individualisation programme that was pursued during the Celtic tiger years and the neoliberal orthodoxy to the effect that the individual is the key in society and that there is no more community. We need to change that mindset and build a sense of solidarity in all our communities. If we do this we will achieve change and improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Reducing services under the austerity campaign sponsored by the Government and the troika only lessens the status of people with disabilities and underpins the attitudes that are clear in the survey results. Since 2008, disability services funding has been cut by 15%. I have already referred to the proposed cut in disability allowances for young people. Disability support groups have also been informed by the HSE that their funding will be cut by 5% this year. This is despite the fact that a cut of only 2% was announced in the budget.

Another issue to which I wish to refer is that which relates to domiciliary care allowance. In 2010 and 2011, over 80% of applications for this allowance in respect of children with autism spectrum disorder were refused. I am aware of children who cannot speak, who are completely withdrawn and who need constant care from their parents who have been refused the allowance. How does this reflect on our society and the Government?

I want to speak about the Disability Act, Part 2 of which provides for care plans to be provided for all people with disabilities, yet it has been implemented only for children under the age of five years. What message does this send to families and disabled people? Part 2 should be implemented fully without delay.

Part 5 sets a target of 3% for the employment of people with disabilities, which one would think was a very modest aspiration. However, in the review of the Act in 2010 submissions were made by public bodies which argued that the target was self-limiting. In this context, it is interesting that the number of people with disabilities employed in the public sector has declined from 2.9% to 2.7%. Does this reflect a lack of will to try to achieve the target? If it is removed, one can always say one is doing well because there is nothing to aspire to.

As I stated, the Minister of State is committed to her work. Much needs to change in society to improve the lives of people with disabilities who need to be protected from further cuts. The Disability Act should be fully implemented. However, providing protection from further cuts is not enough; the Government must develop services and make them available to all those who need them. Perhaps then we will have a society in which when the questions are asked in a survey, the number who do not want to see a disabled child in their child's class will be zero and the number who believe society limits the ability of people with disabilities will also be zero. A huge amount of work must be done to achieve this. I hope the Minister of State will have the support of her ministerial colleagues, but somehow I doubt it in the current climate.

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