Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Having grown up with a brother with a visual and hearing impairment, the treatment of disabled people is an issue of personal interest to me. In the past decade Irish people acquired more cars, houses and money, but in many cases we failed to develop and nurture values that really mattered such as tolerance and empathy. Adults are the worst culprits, but I am grateful that we are nurturing a younger generation, a majority of whom are more socially aware.

I argued this point recently when I accompanied a disabled but fully functioning adult to a hospital in Galway. During the appointment the doctor addressed all of the dialogue on the diagnosis and medication at me, in the process ignoring the patient, for whom I was embarrassed, but I was more enraged at the ignorance of a highly educated Irish professional. I sincerely ask that medical staff deal with people with disabilities with respect and dignity and that this form part of their medical training. In the interests of fairness, I commend the staff of the Mater Hospital, in particular Professor O'Keeffe, for their professionalism, empathy and medical care in that a patient with a disability has a voice and is listened to.

This is one of the many stories I could recount, but my point is simple. We could devote the entire budget to disability services, but if our attitudes and awareness of the capabilities, strength of character and courage of disabled people do not improve, the money would be wasted as it would be misdirected.

Disabled people face clear disadvantages, as outlined in the ESRI disability and inclusion in Ireland report. Persons with a chronic illness disability aged between 25 and 34 years are four times more likely than others to have no qualifications beyond primary level and only half as likely to reach third level. Those of us involved in the education sector must address this problem. According to the ESRI report, persons with a chronic illness disability are more than twice as likely to be at risk of poverty and to be poor. In 2008 those not at work owing to illness or a disability had a 21.6% risk of poverty compared to a figure of 13.8% nationally. The statistic which stands out most for me relates to housing. The number of disabled people with social housing needs increased in the past decade, rising from 423 in 2002 to 1,155 in 2008. I, therefore, ask that people with a disability be treated with respect and that their voices be heard by politicians, medical staff and society in general.

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