Disabled people hit streets to protest ‘cruel’ cutbacks

DISABLED people and their families took to the streets yesterday to highlight “cruel” health cutbacks.

They said Government belt-tightening has resulted in the slashing of personal assistant (PA) hours for people with disabilities.

PAs work with disabled people to allow them lead independent lives.

And campaigners called on Finance Minister Brian Lenihan — who is due to deliver on Tuesday what is expected to be the toughest budget in decades — to ensure that funding levels for PA services are maintained next year.

However, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said it has no option but to reduce hours to preserve the service for everyone.

“The HSE fully understands the impact this will have on individuals and their families and will continue to work in partnership with CIL (the Cork Centre for Independent Living) to minimise the impact, and will continue to seek additional resources to meet demand for this service,” a spokesperson said.

The Cutbacks Action Group, many in wheelchairs, brought their protest onto the streets of Cork.

They said the funding cutbacks, provided by the HSE through the CIL, have rocked the “independent living movement”.

CIL was founded in 1996 to provide an assisted living service to people with a disability.

It has worked with the HSE since 2002 to provide PA hours.

However, the campaigners criticised the funding cutbacks and said the move has had a devastating effect on service users.

“Access to personal assistance is a crucial one-to-one support that facilitates people with disabilities to live independently, avoid institutional care and to pursue their goals,” spokesperson Pauline Hannafin said.

“The Disability Act 2005 has been exposed as a hollow effort to address the right of people with disabilities by the recent funding cuts across the health sector.

“The impact on PA services has undermined individuals’ quality of life and compromised people’s ability to live independently in the community.

“The people who use the assisted living service can no longer feel secure with their own lifestyle as we do not know if or when another piece of it might cruelly taken away.”

Campaigners delivered a petition signed by more than 3,000 to the HSE’s offices calling for CIL’s funding levels for PA hours to be restored to pre-2007 levels.