UNEQUAL UNDER THE LAW

HE won gold in the Special Olympics but is classed a “lunatic”.

Much to his mother’s horror, talented swimmer Walter Pallas, aged 28, is, in the eyes of the law, “a person of unsound mind”.

Yesterday, a distressed Philomena Pallas called for a change to the archaic law that brands people with special needs as lunatics — after she endured the indignity of hearing her Down Syndrome son referred to as such in court.

“He is not a lunatic nor of unsound mind,” she said, speaking from her home at Mount Alto, Ashford, Co Wicklow.

The description of her son occurred at Bray Circuit Civil Court recently during an application for a payout of an €18,000 damages award for injuries Mr Pallas suffered in a car crash in July 2009 when his mother’s car was rear-ended.

“We had planned a special lunch afterwards but we were so shocked by the developments in court that we all had to go home. I was in horror. I was shocked and stunned when reference was made in open court that Walter may be a person of unsound mind and the word lunatic was used in legal discussion of his case,” she said.

Documentation in the case had referred to Mr Pallas as a minor (under 18) and Judge Doirbhile Flanagan said she could not direct any pay-out to Walter’s guardian, his mother, as he was aged 28 and the case was inappropriately titled.

Bernard Rogan, counsel for Mr Pallas, asked to change the title in accordance with court rules. The judge amended the title of the proceedings to include the term ‘a person of unsound mind’ and directed pay-out of the award to Ms Pallas for her son’s benefit.

Last night Inclusion Ireland, the national association for people with an intellectual disability, said promises by successive governments to introduce modern capacity legislation that would allow supported decision making had been repeatedly broken, despite a campaign for change to the Lunacy Act 1871.

Spokeswoman Siobhán Kane said current Irish law was demeaning “not only for those with an intellectual disability, but for anyone suffering from Alzheimer’s, dementia, mental health problems or acquired brain injury”.