Celebrations mock reality of services

THE hypocrisy of successive Governments towards disabled people was put sharply into focus yesterday as protesters huddled outside Dublin’s Mansion House where the Taoiseach celebrated Ireland’s contribution to the European Year of People with Disabilities.

The yawning gulf between the world of political spin and the grim reality of life for disabled people on the street outside was put in perspective by the National Parents and Siblings Alliance (NPSA), whose spokesman wondered "why they're celebrating because they've nothing to celebrate".

While politicians bask in reflected adulation, hundreds of families live in crisis because of the inadequacy of State services for people with learning disabilities, such as autism. Yet, despite bringing their grievances before a succession of ministers and Governments, parents complain that "nothing has happened".

An estimated 1,700 people with such disabilities are waiting for residential care, respite or day places. Many spend their lives under appalling circumstances, including grim psychiatric hospitals where 400 people are incarcerated.

Sadly, the plight of residents at St Mary's Home in Co Louth is mirrored in other institutions where physically and mentally handicapped people are housed in conditions aptly described by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte as "an affront to humanity and entirely unsuitable".

The tragedy of people restrained by straitjackets or drugged into a state of oblivion has long been chronicled in the columns of this newspaper.

Despite promising to empty such hospitals, concerned groups believe the authorities are putting more people into them. Critics readily concede that inroads were made into residential care lists under former Health Minister Brian Cowen. But financial cutbacks are now in train because the Government underestimated the cost of the programme, the number of people on waiting lists and the fact that the queue for services is growing.

Their worst fears have been reflected in Mr Rabbitte's warning that the €13 million earmarked by Government for spending on physical and mental handicapped services in 2003 will only cover the cost of services introduced last year. For the first time in his political experience "not a single penny extra was allocated".

Meanwhile, an appalling vista is facing the aged parents of sons and daughters with learning disabilities, who are now in their 30s and 40s. The worrying question is who will look after the disabled when their parents have passed away.

In the damning words of the NPSA spokesman, "what we are seeing is a Government that has decided that there is an acceptable level of misery. As long as you throw a few bob and a few people come off the waiting list, that's quite satisfactory".

There is no denying the determination of Junior Health Minister Tim O'Malley to improve the lot of the disabled. Hopefully, his realisation that the hallmark of any civilised society is how it looks after less privileged members of the community will be reflected in legislation, based more on the rights of disabled people than on the largesse of bureaucrats.

At a time when services are hit by cutbacks, the priorities of a Government that plans to spend millions on a national stadium and a new Government jet, while offering the disabled a mere €500,000 extra, must be challenged.