Challenge and opportunity for the disability agendaMaking the most of tough times

Eithne Fitzgerald

Head of Policy and Public Affairs

The National Disability Authority

is the independent state body providing expert advice on disability policy and practice to Government, and promoting Universal Design in Ireland

Pervasive inequality…in boom yearsNDA (2005) How Far Towards Equality?

People with disabilities were:

• less likely to have achieved any qualifications

• less likely to have a job

• earned less when in work

• were twice as likely to live in poverty

• less likely to be married or in a relationship

• more likely to experience poor health

• more likely to live with parents well into adulthood

• more likely to live in residential care

• more likely to have problems with public transport

• less likely to have a computer or the internet

• less likely to socialise outside the home

• less likely to take an annual holiday

Why such inequality

• Older, poorer, less well-educated than average

• Related to degree of functional restriction

• System factors

• Life history – poor education => high joblessness => poverty

• Society’s barriers – accessibility, discrimination

• Absence of supports/accommodations

National Disability Strategy

• Disability Act

• Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act

• Sectoral Plans on disability – transport, social welfare, health, environment, employment, communications

• Additional funding 2005-9 to expand services

• ICTU part of national monitoring

• Programme for Govt – Implementation Plan

Towards 2016 GoalsUnderpinning the National Disability Strategy

• Every person with a disability would have access to an income which is sufficient to sustain an acceptable standard of living.

• Every person with a disability would, in conformity with their needs and abilities, have access to appropriate care, health, education, employment and training and social services.

• Every person with a disability would have access to public spaces, buildings, transport, information, advocacy and other public services and appropriate housing.

• Every person with a disability would be supported to enable them, as far as possible, to lead full and independent lives, to participate in work and in society and to maximise their potential.

• Carers would be acknowledged and supported in their caring role

Importance of mainstream services

• About 225,000 people have severe or profound functional impairment in at least one dimension (sight, hearing, mobility, intellectual functioning etc)

• About 75,000 receive specialist disability services

• So mainstream services are critical

• Legal duty on public bodies to include people with disabilities in their mainstream services

Monitoring progress

• What changes under each of the 5 goals are happening for people with disabilities

• NDA has developed suite of 50 indicators, using data from Central Statistics Office, other official statistics, and our own survey

• Baseline data collected, and will track changes over time

• Monitoring UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities

Effect of the economic downturn

• Fewer jobs (but % of people with disabilities in public sector is holding)

• Reductions in public spending– Less money for mainstream services

– Less money for specialist services/support

– Less money for new works

– Cuts in welfare payments

• How can we use reduced resources creatively?

Crisis… or opportunity?

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before”

Rahm Emanuel

Thinking the unthinkable

• When more service stifles independence

• When more service stifles community

• Who are our services for?

• How does our cost base compare?

• How can we make change, and bring people with us?

Value for Money and Policy ReviewDisability Services

• 50% of money going to residential care– 4,000 living in institutions– Poor quality of life and little choice– Highly-professionalised model of care

• 25% of money going to day services– Segregated services– Bussed in, bussed out

• Relatively little going on early intervention, respite, assistive technology, to promote independence

Getting more for less – new model

• From dependence to independence

• Personal budgets, where people choose the supports they want

• From wrap-around services, to supports to inclusion

• Natural community supports – who else is going to the match or the cinema?

• Accountability for public money – standards, tendering, transparency

• Shared back-office services

Joined-up policies

• Put individual at the heart of things

• Joined-up support – a place to live, supports to everyday living, getting to work, at work, being part of your community

• Getting agencies to work together – accessible bus stops for accessible buses– care supports to live in a place of your own

• Ask people to prioritise what’s important to them if something has to go

Flexibility and innovation

• Public services that change with changing needs

• Citizen-driven services

• Croke Park agreement can be a catalyst

What people with disabilities say they want

• Ordinary lives in ordinary places

• Self-determination

• Choice

• Support when they need it, and the security of knowing it will be there

National Disability Strategy Implementation Plan

• Breathe new life into the Strategy

• Incorporate intervening developments and Programme for Govt commitments

• Update Sectoral Plans – extend to new areas?

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• Prepare for the economic upturn