Special needs: we have failed the carers
Judged against this yardstick, our treatment especially of those with special needs questions our right to describe ourselves as a civilised society.
We have failed to provide the level of services required and at the speed required.
This has resulted in unnecessary suffering for those with children requiring special care and has placed great pressure on their families.
There are particular requirements for families caring for such a person at home.
In many cases it is not possible to provide the level of care required on a 24-hour basis every day.
Additional day places are needed to provide training and support employment.
With improvements in medical care people with special needs are, thankfully, living longer, but this in turn means they need care for longer periods of time.
Many parents who are getting on in years are caring for offspring in their 30s and 40s. Their main fear is what will happen to their sons or daughters when they are too old to care for them, or when they are dead.
It is not acceptable that parents of a son or daughter with special needs should have to worry about who will look after their child when they are no longer able to do so.
We should be more compassionate in such prosperous times.
For the first time we are in a position to make a real and significant difference to people in our community who have been discriminated against and forgotten for so long.
Cllr Noel Collins
‘St Jude’s’
Midleton
Co Cork
