Disabled want election gains

As politicians desperately fight to retain their seats, campaigners want the disabled to have their voices heard. A new opinion poll for the Disability Federation of Ireland reveals the main issues they want politicians to address.

The poll, of 1,000 disabled people shows that 85% of them want to have the same supports to enter or re-enter the workplace as are in place for the unemployed.

They also want a Cabinet minister for disability inclusion “to drive and co-ordinate a whole-of-government approach”, including the ratification of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD), no later than the end of 2016.

They also want a €20 increase in the disability allowance, in the next Budget, as well as the introduction of a disability tax credit, similar to the blind-persons tax credit.

The federation has also called for all employment activation programmes to be made eligible to people with disabilities.

Some 600,000 people are living with a disability in Ireland, and two in every three of us know a family member, a friend, or a neighbour living with a disability.

At least one in 10 adults of working age has a disability (15-64 years).

One in three adults over 65 has a disability. There are nearly 190,000 family carers in Ireland; two thirds are women caring for someone with a disabling condition.

The poll was carried out by iReach, as part of their regular Consumer Omnibus Survey.

Three quarters of people agree that the Government should make medical cards available to people based on need, rather than income.

Almost half (46%) of the overall sample know someone living with a disability or mental-health condition.

Half (49%) disagree that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to participate in Irish society as everyone else.

Almost half (45%) have (or their family member has) incurred extra costs, due to illness or disability.

Health and therapy services (48%), combined with travel to these services (24%), are the most common. Savings (46%) and income (42%) are the most common sources used for meeting these extra costs.

Other means include: Borrowings from family/friends (19%) and also a loan (7%).

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