Dáil debates

Tuesday, 30 May 2023

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Disability Services

9:15 pm

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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38. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps being taken to support people with autism and their families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16970/23]

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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Will the Minister of State detail the steps taken to support people with disabilities and their families? How tangible is that support on the ground?

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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A range of services and supports are available to support autistic individuals and their families. These fall within the remit of multiple Departments such as the Department of Health, the Department of Education and my own Department in the context of specialist community-based disability services and the access and inclusion model. Disability services are provided throughout the country to people with disabilities, including those with autism. These services include residential, day and respite services, alternative respite, home support and personal assistant services, children’s services, and multidisciplinary supports for children and adults.

The HSE is working to bring about improvements for autistic people accessing services via the autism service improvement programme. Funding has also been provided under budget 2023 to address waiting lists for clinical assessments identified through the assessment of needs process. However, I am conscious there are gaps in existing supports and services that need to be addressed. I am committed to advancing national action on autism in line with the commitments in the programme for Government.

To this end, the Department will continue to drive progress under key policy initiatives, such as the disability capacity review, the progressing disability services roadmap, the development of an ambitious successor strategy to the national disability inclusion strategy, through the development of bespoke measures where appropriate, and through initiatives such as the autism innovation strategy. The aim of this strategy is to identify bespoke challenges and barriers faced by autistic people and to deliver solutions in an holistic and whole-of-government manner.

The Department is engaged in bilateral negotiations throughout Government to discuss the findings of an initial public consultation that was convened last year and to agree actions for the strategy. A further public consultation will be convened before the end of 2023 prior to the finalisation of the strategy. The strategy will complement mainstream measures and seek to deliver concrete actions over a 12- to 18-month delivery timeline. It is my firm intention that the strategy will provide the foundations for a more autism-inclusive society and further work to come.

9:25 pm

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply. Many parents of children have been waiting a long time for diagnoses. This week, I came across the case of a parent whose child was taken off a mainstream bus going to school due to behaviour. The parent is going back and over like a little ping-pong ball between the Department of Education, the school, the special education needs organiser, SENO, and God knows who else. They are all looking for reports from one another. It is completely disjointed. The mother is running around the place trying to get something sorted out so that the child can get to school. It seems the system is completely set up to be against this.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. There is work to be done with our providers, by whom I mean the Department of Education and Bus Éireann, and in special education, not only on awareness but also on understanding. There should be understanding and awareness of what it is to be an autistic child, what it is to be the parent of an autistic child and how they need to be supported. They are no different to any other child trying to access education. Ping-ponging parents over and back is not acceptable. What is acceptable is inclusion and the right of the child to participate on the bus in an equal way to all others, and the right of the child to be supported. Sometimes we need to understanding the barriers to support the family, whether it is noise on the bus, whether a situation is too loud for the child or whether somebody might be upsetting child. No different from Deputy Canney, only this week I heard of children not being allowed to attend transition year programmes because they are on the autism spectrum or they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. They are the very children who need to participate in such programmes.

Photo of Seán CanneySeán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. It is great to hear this. While we have all of the strategies, what kills parents such as the woman who rang me this week is that she could not talk to somebody. It was all bloody emails. There is no personal contact. It is important that we stop for a minute. We have to say, for instance, that it is not right and that we should not be proud of it. We do not necessarily need a strategy. We need people to have a bit of common sense between their ears to try to get this done, whatever it takes. We are so tied up with abiding by rules that we forget about the fact it is people we are dealing with. About a year ago, a parent said something to me that comes back to me every time I speak about autism. People with autism do not have a disability; they have other abilities. We need to be sure the other abilities and potential are unlocked. We have to have understanding. I do not care who is dealing with a person with autism, they need to know what they are doing.

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I agree, and it is all about understanding. This is why I set up the autism innovation strategy. I genuinely believe there are low-hanging fruit for which we do not need legislation. There is work that can be done on innovation and empowerment. We can empower teachers. While we are speaking in this respect, we can also empower bus operators, bus providers and SENOs to support families in such positions. I do not believe that there is a need for legislation. What is needed is better guidance, better understanding and better delivery in order that we will have a more inclusive society. Throughout society - and not only in the education sector - we need better understanding. This also applies in the context of social protection and employment.