MEMBERS of the Clare Leader Forum are getting ready to attend the European Network on Independent Living’s Freedom Drive in Brussels this September after Shannon’s Ei Electronics donated €2,000 to the organisation.
The Clare Leader Forum are a prominent advocacy group in the county entirely constituted of disabled people working for the betterment of disabled people.
Attending the Freedom Drive is a major event for the organisation as the biannual protest march is seen as a significant meeting place for disability activists in the EU.
Trish McNamara is one of the two members attending the drive later this month. She explained that it was “for disabled people all over Europe. We all meet up together to highlight disabilities throughout the world and the need for us to be seen because an awful lot of the time not only are we not seen but we’re not heard, so we make an impact in Brussels. We also meet likeminded people, it’s almost like peer counselling, we learn from each other and we get ideas from each other on how we can improve our lives”.
Trish was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001. For the last nine years she has used a wheelchair full time. Despite having the degenerative disease for more than two decades Trish still drives and works part-time at The Cliffs of Moher information desk. “I’m one of these people who are very determined” said Trish, “I am very adamant that I keep as much of my life as normal as possible and I will fight vigorously to keep my independence”.
She is quick to dissuade any negativity around the treatment of disabled people and underscores that the disabled are “grateful” for the help they receive, but she says there are “holes in the service.” It’s these holes Trish and many other activists are looking to get resolved when they go to Brussels.
“In going to Brussels, we are going to lobby the MEPs to put more supports in place. We have the United Nations charter on people with disabilities that was adopted by the UN in 2006. It was signed by Ireland in 2017. Yet nothing has happened since. There are 643,000 people with disabilities in Ireland, that’s 13.5% of the population. With that number very few of us have a voice. We need to change from the medical model of ‘there’s something wrong with these people, we need to look after them, we know what’s best for them’ into an equal rights, human rights model”.
“Over 30% of people in nursing homes are under 50 years of age. They shouldn’t be there but because it’s a medical model being used that’s the safest place for them. Yet I would imagine that if you asked any number of people under 50 in nursing homes if they’re happy there the answer would be no. We deserve to be seen, we deserve to be heard and we deserve to have an input into how our care is going to happen” she said.
The biggest issue for activists heading to Brussels, according to Trish, is staffing “the systems are all in place, it’s all there in paper but because we all know there is a huge shortage of carers and PAs in the country [it’s not working]. We need to take better care of our PAs, we need to make it into a career people want to go into”.
