Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697750966788.pdf (Ireland)
Spoken Submission to the Joint Committee on Disability Matters regarding the right to participation in political, cultural, community & public life Organisation: The National Platform of Self Advocates Speaker: Joe McGrath, Vice Chair Contact email: myvoiceireland@gmail.com Telephone: 087 4420919 1 Introduction Thank you very much Cathaoirleach for the invitation to speak here today.

My name is Joe McGrath.

I am the Vice Chair of the National Platform of Self- Advocates.
We are Ireland’s first independent DPO run for and by people with an intellectual disability.

We have over 350 members from all over Ireland.

Our mission is to improve the lives of people with an intellectual disability by advocating for our rights in forums like this.

Participation in public and political life When we talk about participation in public and political life, we don’t just mean voting and being elected, we mean all activities and decision-making that affect the public.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is very clear that states have to guarantee the rights of disabled people as voters, as candidates and as office-holders at all levels of government.

Participation means more than coming along one day to a meeting and telling our stories.

Participation for us means we should be involved in running events, chairing consultations, writing up reports and deciding what the solutions are.
People with an intellectual disability are not involved at every level of government.

We are not employed as experts within the civil service.

We are not elected to public office.

We are not even represented on all the Departmental Consultative Committees.

The State doesn’t seem to understand that many of us are not readers, don’t write, or don’t have access to technology.

We are excluded from participation when we aren’t given the time or the supports we need to communicate.
We feel we are only allowed to participate in story-telling, not in decision- making.

2 Funding for DPOs The CRPD says that states have to encourage the participation of disabled people through their own DPOs.

This includes funding.

When we are fully funded, we can bring the voice of people with an intellectual disability into different forums.

We have taken part in Personalised Budgets, Make Work Pay, and we deliver training on the Assisted Decision- Making Act.
We are empowered advocates but without funding we still have very little power.

When funding stops, all our time goes towards finding money and our advocacy work stops.

If we want to be heard we can’t join bigger disability groups.

We need to keep our own independent voice.

We have lots of evidence that when we merge with other groups our voices are silenced.
Other disabled people don’t always understand the extra barriers we face and they don’t always advocate for accessibility or include us in how decisions are made.

We want the State to: • Give funding for a wide range of DPOs so that unique groups can have their voices heard.

• If there is competition for funding for advocacy activities, prioritise DPOs.

This may mean taking money away from service organisations and giving it to DPOs instead.
3 How people with an intellectual disability can be represented in decision making The State needs to communicate with people with intellectual disabilities in accessible ways or we can’t participate.

This means giving us information in accessible formats like easy-to-read English and videos, and also giving us time to respond to information.

Calls for submissions should be published long in advance of deadlines.

Many of us rely on supporters to give us information.
Then we need time to gather our stories and prepare our submissions.

We often rely on supporters to assist us in telling our stories.

This takes much more time than is usually given.

The best way to engage with the National Platform is to invite our members to a meeting of only people with an intellectual disability.

This gives us space to talk about issues that affect us.
We find that when we are mixed in with other groups that people either do not give us a chance to speak or they speak for us or over us.

We want the State to: • Include us in policy-making from agenda-setting to implementation and evaluation.

• Make sure all public processes are accessible in how they are organised, scheduled, and run.

Include people with an intellectual disability in the design and chairing of events.

• Guarantee that our unique voice will be heard and heeded.
• Require that all official information is provided in accessible formats from every State department, not just information about disability issues.

People with intellectual disabilities have the right to be included in every part of life.

• Train public servants on the CRPD and the Public Sector Duty.

• Employ people with an intellectual disability in the public service as advisors and as access champions.
4 Accessibility and inclusivity in Ireland’s voting system The law says that people of ‘unsound mind’ can’t stand for election.

This could be used to stop the political participation of people with an intellectual disability.

Some of us aren’t told that an election is happening or that we can vote.

Information on elections and referendums isn’t always accessible.

We want the State to: • Remove barriers that stop people with an intellectual disability from standing for election.
• Provide financial and training supports to encourage disabled people to stand for election.

• Require political parties and the Referendum Commission to make their manifestos accessible.

• Make polling stations accessible and officers know how to support people with intellectual disabilities.

5 Participation in community life We don’t want special services to be able to participate in community life.

We want to be supported to live in the same community as everyone else.
As with all parts of our lives, most of all we want to be able to make our own decisions about the things that affect us.

We want the State to: • Measure the employment rates of people with intellectual disabilities separate from people with physical or sensory disabilities and commit to creating a distinct public service employment target for people with an intellectual disability.

• Give us access to mainstream Further and Higher Education opportunities.
• Support us to get our own homes as ordinary tenants.

• Make sure that new housing meets the emotional, social and physical needs of the people who will live there.

• Include people with an intellectual disability who are living in nursing homes because there is no suitable house for them in homelessness figures.

• Make all public transport accessible.

We shouldn’t have to book ramps in advance and there shouldn’t be limits on the number of disabled people who can travel at any one time.
• Recognise the right to personal assistance and allow us to choose how we are supported as we participate in community life.

6 Participation in cultural life A lot of our basic rights are restricted so taking part in cultural life is a bit of a luxury.

We want the State to: • Make sure that all cultural venues are accessible.

That includes information in different formats that can be understood by people with an intellectual disability.
• Make sure that any playgrounds or sports amenities built with public money are accessible and inclusive of disabled people.

• Build more Changing Places bathrooms in cultural venues so that every disabled person can participate in cultural life in comfort.

This is the end of my statement.

Thank you for listening.

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