Damien Walshe is CEO of Independent Living Movement Ireland.
The ILMI campaign for a right to Personal Assistance continues with our launch of ‘Achieving a Right to Personal Assistance in Ireland’, which is a collaboration between the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway and Independent Living Movement Ireland (ILMI).
The paper was launched by Minister Finian McGrath in the Oireachtas and the event was hosted by Senator Colette Kelleher. Shelly Gaynor (ILMI Chair) and James Cawley (ILMI Policy Officer) led the discussion, speaking passionately about independent living and giving TDs and Senators in attendance an opportunity to hear directly from disabled people on what the Personal Assistance Service (PAS) means in terms of control, options and freedom.
Clíona de Bhailís from NUIG gave a brilliant input on the report and the four options that could be used to legislate for a right to personal assistance. Eoin MacAodha from Eversheds Sutherland, who are providing pro bono assistance to ILMI through the PILA (the Public Interest Law Alliance) spoke of other European countries who have legislated for a right to a Personal Assistance Service.
The next step in the campaign is for ILMI to work with Eversheds Sutherland to draft legislation and work with TDs to bring a Private Members Bill into the Dáil. This work through PILA has been enormously helpful and allows ILMI as an organisation to develop a rights-based approach through legislation that will lead to greater freedom for disabled people to live the lives of their choosing.
Part of our success in this campaign has been ensuring that disabled people have been leading the campaign at a grassroots level, lobbying their TDs and Senators about the importance of the Personal Assistance Service and disabled people’s rights.
This is why our mantra of ‘Nothing about us without us’ is central to how we work as a Disabled Person’s Organisation (DPO). Everything we as ILMI do is about ensuring disabled people actively involved in our collective campaigns, demanding their rights and ensuring that politicians know how important a right to Personal Assistance is. Central to this is for politicians to hear directly from disabled people on how the Personal Assistance Service is different from home help and that this is the service that allows disabled people to live independently.
Click here to download ‘Achieving a Right to Personal Assistance in Ireland’ in PDF or here a text-only Word version.
Click here for a two-page summary document.