Fighting back against allowance cuts

A RALLYING call for people with disabilities to fight for their rights and speak out  against Government cuts,  was heard at a conference in Ennis recently. The conference, organised by Disabled People Against Cuts, was held in the West County Hotel.

 

Organiser of the meeting and disability activist, Ann Marie Flanagan, urged people to come out in solidarity against cuts to the mobility allowance. She spoke of her own battle to retain her personal assistant after it was cut in 2011 following the birth of her son. After a strongly fought appeal, she was granted a reprieve.

Again in September of last year when the Government announced plans to reduce the budget for PAs, she joined the critical mass of disabled people who spoke out against the plans. The Minister for Health later went on to direct the HSE not to proceed with the cuts.

Ms Flanagan called on people to similarly fight for their mobility allowance. “Based on my personal experience, I believe we need to regain our activism and solidarity. The campaign to hold our PA services was full of personality, stories and, most of all, hope. We found that highlighting positive outcomes of good State policy and services helped us to protect them, for now. Let’s take learning from that,” she urged.

“When the cuts were announced I felt very alone, very frightened. I don’t want anyone to feel alone or frightened. I don’t want to feel that again. I want us to give and receive support to and from each other. I want us to reconnect, be in solidarity and make it very clear we mean it when we say, ‘nothing about us without us’ and give us our rights, not charity,” she added.

The conference also heard from Thomas Connole, who has significant visual disability and is concerned about the loss of his mobility allowance. He said he was not asked about the negative effects this will have on his life.

“I do not consider organised disability transport to be an adequate replacement for the financial support I received, as it will not meet my needs. In fact, an organised disability transport system will only serve to isolate me further by depriving me of dignity and autonomy. The withdrawal of my mobility allowance will, I believe, lead to serious issues for me, such as frustration. My access to the local community will be curtailed, I will have to rely on family and friends to provide transport for  me and this will obviously lead to tension between us, as they will not always be around if I want to go anywhere,” he said.

He believes his right to privacy will be taken away, as he would need to tell a disability organisation where he is going. “I believe that I have the right, and indeed the responsibility, to live in the Ennis community, just like everyone else. I would hate to have to return to the way disability and other services were presented in the past. For example, I remember as a small child having to get up at 6am in the morning to go to the local hospital to meet an ambulance to take me to Dublin.”

Other speakers at the meeting included activist Leigh Gath and Martin Naughton, a member of the department’s Mobility Allowance Review Group. The meeting was chaired by Dermot Hayes. The meeting concluded with a commitment to regroup at a later date.