Conference on Advancing the National Disability Strategy: Building on
Comparative and International Innovation
Galway - 10 December 2010
Presentation by Siobhan Barron, Director, National Disability Authority
10 December, 2010
I would like to thank Shuaib Chalklen for his very interesting presentation.
As the independent statutory advisory body to Government on disability policy
and practice, and on universal design, the NDA's vision is of an Irish society in
which people with disabilities enjoy equal rights and opportunities to
participate in the economic, social and cultural life of the nation and of an
environment which is accessible to all persons. The National Disability
Strategy (NDS) and the UN Convention form a major focus to our work.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is important as
it restates the rights enshrined in other Conventions but prescribes how they
can be achieved in specific areas. The Convention has benefited from the
direct input of people with disabilities and is also reflected in strategies
developed by the European Commission and the Council of Europe which
have been adopted by many countries including Ireland.
It is the case that Ireland has signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities but has yet to ratify it. Of course we would all be
anxious that this could be advanced without delay. At the same time it is also
the case that many of the provisions of the Convention are already in place,
for example under the terms of our equality legislation which outlaws
discrimination against people with disabilities, or are being further advanced
as part of Ireland's National Disability Strategy.
Many important developments in disability followed on from the work of the
Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities (1996) which has had a
major influence on the disability equality agenda. The Commission's work was
hugely influential, not least because a majority of the members were people
with disabilities themselves or their immediate families. This has included the
enactment of equality legislation and the move to the social model of
disability. The National Disability Strategy which was launched in October
2004 builds on these developments and it comprises:
•
Disability Act 2005 designed to provide rights to persons with
disabilities to an independent assessment of their health and personal
socials service needs as well as to services set out in a Service
Statement with access to address and independent appeal. It also
obliges every Government Department and public body to make their
buildings, services, information and procurement accessible and to
take action to achieve a target level of employment for people with
disabilities. It also requires Government Departments to produce
sectoral plans.
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•
Sectoral Plans i.e. action programmes in the areas of health,
employment and training, social welfare, transport, the environment
(including local authority roles and housing) and communications.
Plans must set out arrangements for cross departmental co-operation.
•
Legislation to establish a Personal Advocacy Service. This is being
rolled out through a regional service on a non-statutory basis however
from January 2011.
•
Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to
achieve better inclusion in education with systems to identify and
allocate appropriate supports and individual education plans.
•
A multi annual funding programme 2005 to 2009 intended to ensure
additional funding to support hi-priority services.
and
• and revision of cabinet procedures so that legislation and policy
proposals to Government should be disability proofed by officials.
The National Disability Strategy provides a framework for a joined-up
approach to policy and service delivery by the Government Departments and
the relevant agencies which should deliver real change in the lives of people
with disabilities. At the highest level it is overseen by the Cabinet Committee
on Social Inclusion which is chaired by the Taoiseach. That committee is kept
informed of developments by senior officials from 10 Government
Departments who meet regularly. Twice-yearly progress reports are prepared,
which are reviewed in detail by committees at Departmental level involving
disability stakeholders and the NDA. Key strategic issues arising are
discussed at the twice-yearly meetings of the National Disability Strategy
Stakeholder Monitoring Group (NDSSMG) representing the senior officials,
the NDA, the disability stakeholders and the social partners.
Both the National Disability Strategy and the work on the UN Convention are
co-ordinated by the Disability Policy Unit of the Dept of CEGA, reflecting the
strong role the strategy has to play in advancing the commitments set out in
the UN Convention. An interdepartmental committee is monitoring remaining
legislative and administrative actions required to enable the State to formally
ratify the convention.
Co-ordination and continued engagement with stakeholders is key to the
successful implementation of the National Disability Strategy given the
breadth of the policy and service areas it covers and to ensure that resources
can be used to achieve best outcomes for people with disabilities.
I would like to now take you through the areas of the Convention that can be
advanced under the Strategy:
•
UN Convention is about the comprehensive application of civil, political,
economic, social and cultural rights to people with disabilities. The NDS
is a cross sectoral strategy focused on ensuring integration and
inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream policies, programmes
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and society in general, focusing on the economic, social and cultural
aspects of the Convention
•
UN Convention, Article 4 requires consultation with people with
disabilities and representative organisations. Disability organisations
are involved as active partners in monitoring the National Disability
Strategy
•
UN Convention Article 4 also requires the promotion, research and
development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and
facilities. In Ireland this agenda is being advanced by the statutory
Centre of Excellence in Universal Design which is part of the NDA. In
fact Ireland is quite unique in having such a statutory centre. The
Centre's focus is on ensuring places, products and systems are
designed to be accessible, usable and easy to understand by
everybody regardless of their age, their size, their ability or disability.
The centre works with national and international standards bodies, with
industry, with professional bodies and in curriculum development. One
of the exciting ventures has been to run last year and this year a 24hour Design Challenge to stimulate design professionals in a range of
disciplines. In addition, the Centre is working directly with local
authorities on specific projects including an urban redevelopment
project in Dublin.
•
UN Convention, Article 9 requires that premises and information are
accessible and that people with disabilities have access to private and
public sector venues. The Disability Act obliges every public service
organisation to ensure its premises, services, information and
procurement are accessible. Local authorities are embarked on a
programme to make streets, footpaths and council premises and
facilities accessible. Part M of the Building Regulations has just been
significantly updated and improved, and new buildings (other than
houses) now need Disability Access Certificates before they can be
occupied. The NDA has developed two Codes of Practice to guide
accessibility in addition to a suite of guidelines to guide accessibility,
and monitors implementation of the Codes.
•
The UN Convention Art 19 requires that people with disabilities can
enjoy their rights to full inclusion and participation in the community,
choosing where and with whom they live. In Ireland about 4,000
people, predominantly with intellectual disabilities live in institutional or
campus settings of ten or more people, another 1,200 people live in
long-stay psychiatric hospitals and there are many young people with
acquired brain injuries who live in nursing homes for the elderly. A
major challenge for the coming years will be to end institutional care of
people with disabilities or mental health difficulties, and promote
community living options and greater independence.
•
The expert reference group on disability policy led by the Department
of Health and Children published, as part of the overall Value for
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Money review, its proposals this week for a different model of disability
services, to be centred on choice, independence and community
engagement. The NDA's research on systems in other jurisdictions has
guided and continues to guide that work. For example, our current work
on resource allocation models can guide on how to better match
resources to what individuals need, and ensure greater choice for
individuals and their families.
•
UN Convention Article 20 requires effective measures to ensure
personal mobility with greatest possible independence and facilitating
access to quality mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies.
Significant progress has been achieved under the Transport Sectoral
Plan in the Strategy on delivering accessible public transport, while
further targets have yet to be met. So far all trains are accessible,
Dublin Bus and other city routes will be fully accessible by 2012 and it
is aimed to have a fully-accessible coach fleet by 2015. The
Department of Transport's Public Transport Committee and user
groups of the different public transport companies include people with
disabilities. The new National Transport Authority whose remit
includes more interconnected services, provides an opportunity to
consider how the different kinds of disability-specific transport could be
more effectively integrated and linked to mainstream transport
•
When the independent assessment of need is fully operational, it will
provide a good framework for systematically evaluating requirements
for mobility aids and assistive technologies. Such technologies offer
new opportunities to enhance independence, and telecare and
telehealth applications appear to offer better quality of life as well as
potential savings.
•
UN Convention Article 21 relates to access to information and freedom
of expression. Public bodies are legally obliged to provide information
to people with disabilities in the formats they require. The increased
emphasis on e-government and web makes it critical that public sector
websites are designed and maintained to a standards that makes them
fully accessible to users with disabilities. Under the Communications
Sectoral plan, targets have been set for the accessibility of TV
programming by different channels.
•
UN Convention Article 24 requires an inclusive education system at all
levels with supports to facilitate the effective education of children with
disabilities. Over recent years, the focus has moved from special
schools towards supports to children with disabilities to participate in
mainstream education, with a significant deployment of resources to
mainstream schools. The Education of Persons with Special
Educational Needs Act has a strong focus on mainstream education,
and schools may be directed to take a particular child. The Act
provides for independent assessments and individual education plans
when it is fully operational
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•
UN Convention Article 25 requires that people with disabilities can
access the same range, quality and standard of health care. The HSE
has appointed a national accessibility co-ordinator and the NDA will be
supporting her work to make mainstream health services accessible,
with a particular focus on primary care. The independent assessment
of need provisions of the Disability Act have commenced for children
aged 0 - 5 years.
•
UN Convention Article 27 relates to the right to work. Work is
continuing under the Strategy on a comprehensive employment
strategy for people with disabilities. The integration of employment
supports into the Department of Social Protection will enable a greater
focus on pathways from welfare to work for people with disabilities.
Public bodies are now legally obliged to achieve an employment target
of 3% and also to actively work to support staff with disabilities. Most
recent figures indicate 2.9% for 2009.
•
UN Convention Article 28 relates to the right to an adequate standard
of living including food, clothing, housing and living conditions with
access to public housing programmes. Under the Sectoral plan, a
housing strategy for people with disabilities is now being finalised.
•
UN Convention Article 30 relates to right to take part on equal basis in
cultural life and access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues.
The Strategy covers accessibility of local authority venues including
libraries and leisure centres, some of whom have qualified for the NDA
Excellence through Accessibility awards and should inspire such high
standards in other centres. The NDA has also developed a Code of
Practice on Accessible Heritage Sites for consideration by the Minister
and is working with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and
Local Government on supporting guidelines.
•
Legal Capacity - The government considers that legislation to
modernise our law must be enacted in this area before Ireland can
ratify the Convention. I understand that the timeframe for publication is
early 2011.
The National Disability Authority, set up to advise and inform Government on
disability policy and practice, and to promote universal design, is working to
advise and support the relevant state agencies and government departments
to advance each and every one of the commitments outlined above. We are
finalising a significant piece of work gathering the data across a suite of some
50 indicators to monitor the impact of the Strategy on the lives of people with
disabilities, as my colleague Mary van Lieshout will show you later.
Ireland is now going through difficult economic and financial times. The need
to undertake a €15bn. fiscal adjustment over the next four years will pose
major challenges. It is essential that the progress made to date and the
impetus of the Strategy is maintained, and that disability remains high on the
agenda. A recession implementation plan is in preparation, focusing on the
key initiatives to maintain the momentum of the Strategy and prioritising the
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actions which are expected to deliver most impact. Reconfiguring services to
ensure better value from the monies remaining in the system will be a key
task to sustain the progress already made and maintain a momentum for
improvement. Ensuring people with disabilities can get jobs when the upturn
comes should now be a focus in finalising and implementing a comprehensive
employment strategy for all persons with disabilities.
As outlined much of the groundwork that will support delivery under the UN
Convention has been progressed or is underway as part of the National
Disability Strategy. Having a National Disability Strategy and supporting
framework ensures we have a focal point for planning change, delivering and
measuring change as well as identifying the challenges and working to
address them together.
ENDS
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