Intellectually disabled people ‘still face barriers’

PEOPLE with intellectual disabilities are still being discriminated against in areas of education, employment and housing and are rarely considered as citizens with a right to vote, the National Association for Mentally Handicapped of Ireland (NAMHI) said yesterday.

The organisation also criticised Junior Health Minister Tim O'Malley for claiming we had "some of the best" equality legislation in the world.

The minister's assertion sounded hollow to Irish delegates among 250 from 32 European countries at Inclusion Europe, a three-day conference in Dublin to promote the rights of people with intellectual disability.