Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

Access to Autism and Disability Assessments and Supports: Motion [Private Members]

 

10:42 am

Photo of Donnchadh Ó LaoghaireDonnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú le baill Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre. Tá siad tar éis rún den saghas seo a chur chun cinn cúpla uair agus is luachmhar an rud atá ann. It is hard not to feel I am repeating what others have said. If you take the part of the motion on disabilities, you could speak for an hour. If you take the part about autism, you could speak for another hour. If you take all the parts of it together, you could easily speak for 20 hours about the stories we have heard and the experiences we have.

It has been said before but the fundamental truth is parents are exhausted from having to fight for every inch. Every service has to be fought for, followed up and chased. Nothing comes easy, even the most straightforward things. The way things are, particularly with some of the changes made, there is a feeling that no part of the system works properly, whether the CDNTs, school places, access to therapists or even necessary equipment, which you would imagine would be relatively straightforward but it is not.

A woman contacted my office recently about her son, who is five. She needs to get him into a special school. He is in a special class. The CDNTs have advised her that is not the best place for him but she cannot get him into a special school without a cognitive assessment. She has been trying to get one but to no avail and cannot be told the waiting time. She does not know when an assessment might happen.

Another mother was in contact about her son, who has had no key worker for the past year. He needs a specialised buggy, going back to the equipment issue. She talked to her occupational therapist about this. She had to request an appointment for this and has not heard anything since. Only recently, after a year of emails after emails and fighting for a fundamental requirement for the child, she was able to get a buggy.

I am also in contact with a family whose child has been refused a place in four special schools ahead of the upcoming academic year. This five-year-old is non-verbal and requires a walking frame as they cannot walk independently. Two of the four schools are oversubscribed. Another said the child’s diagnosis is not profound enough and another said the disability does not fit the criteria. It is a scandal that these keep arising.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.