Kate Walsh (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I appreciate these few minutes to speak on this very important Bill. Meeting the needs of people with disabilities and their families is an important part of my work as a public representative and is certainly a part of my work that I take most seriously. I want to address two specific points, the labelling of people with disabilities and the issue of access.

On the first issue, I know much of the Dáil debate focused on the definition of disability. While I do not want to get into the technicalities, people with disabilities must not be labelled, intentionally or unintentionally. Unfortunately, we need to focus attention on the marginalisation of some people with disabilities within all areas of Irish life. This includes the issue of inappropriate labelling. Labels can create expectations that are based on our previous experiences, hearsay, or what we were taught. The problem is that these expectations can be wrong. Labels make people think that persons thus labelled are the same. Not all people labelled "disabled" are the same. Not all people labelled "blind" or "deaf" are the same. They are not all the same and they have very specific talents, circumstances and needs, which we should not forget during our discussion on the Bill.

I refer Members to the early sections of Part 3. Last night the Minister of State said the Government is satisfied that the Bill creates significant new requirements on public bodies in terms of accessibility of buildings, and service and information. I hope these move from being requirements to being a reality as soon as possible. This morning Senator Dardis outlined some problems with access to buildings in Kildare, of which I am aware. In as far as is possible people with disabilities should have access to the same places to which the rest us want to go. We should make whatever changes are necessary in terms of infrastructure, ramps, lifts, doors, etc. While I know progress has been made, we need to keep our eye on the topic.

Regarding the Bill in general, I want to commend the contributions of the representative groups. The legislation has benefited from their input. I also want to thank the Minister of State and his Department for the broad consultation process that was held. Given the tireless and brilliant work done by support groups and families — we owe them due regard — I am happy the Bill has been shaped by their needs.