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PAS NOW! Calling All Public Representatives
IMAGE: poster with info detailed below
Following on from our well supported PAS NOW Webinar on May 5th we are delighted to announce the next phase in the PAS NOW Campaign.
On June 28th at 1pm we are inviting all our TDs to join us in the Audio-Visual Room of Leinster House at 1pm, for a discussion on the next steps in the campaign for true equality and protection for our right to access Personal Assistance Services (PAS). The focus of the meeting is on what they are now doing to support our right to access PAS and how we can work together to realise this.
All your TDs are invited to attend and we urge you to encourage them to do so. If you do not have contact details for your representatives get in touch with Susan at susanobrien@ilmi.ie and we will be delighted to help you.
ILMI #PASNOW webinar Recording
On the 5th May 2022, ILMI held a webinar to explore the impact of our PAS NOW Campaign. This is a campaign to bring around Personal Assistance Service (PAS) as a human right and to ensure legislation is enacted to give us the right to access a PAS that provides us with freedom, choice and control in our lives.
This webinar heard from ILMI Chair Des Kenny, ILMI Peer mentor Shelly Gaynor and ILMI Policy Officer James Cawley about the PAS service and the ILMI Campaign to have motions passed by each local authority to support a right to disabled people accessing a PAS. ILMI member Dan Airey and ILMI board member Ann Marie Flanagan spoke about what a PAS means to disabled people’s lives.
We were also joined by our political allies Minister Anne Rabbitte, Deputy Thomas Pringle, Senator Eileen Flynn and Senator Erin McGreehan.
MC for the event was ILMI board member Brian Dalton and ISL was provided by Lisa Harvey.
YouTube Link is here
In from the Margins
IMAGE: poster with info detailed below
In from the Margins: Advancing a Community Development Approach to achieving Equality, Social Inclusion, Participation and Human Rights for Disabled People in Ireland
Wednesday 29th June from 11am to 1pm (interactive Zoom workshop)
The Irish State has to a certain extent recognised and invested in the role of grassroots community organisations and their role in participating in the development of policies to tackle poverty, reduce discrimination and promote inclusion.
Due to the medical model of disability and the, disabled people have not directly benefited from any meaningful investment in community development resourcing or approaches. This has had a serious impact on disabled people’s voices being heard in the development of policy locally and nationally.
This webinar will explore the historic absence of community development approaches with disabled people in Ireland and the impact that this has on disabled people’s lives. It will explore the evolution of the disability rights movement in Ireland and reflect on parallels with the Traveller experience of exclusion, oppression and inequality and the traditional paternalistic charity based approaches to working with Travellers which characterised this experience.
It will examine the shift to and impact of community development work with Travellers over the past four decades and examine what community workers should do to support meaningful, participative and collective spaces for disabled people and the emergence of Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs).
Register in advance for this meeting: https://tinyurl.com/mryxv7xx
Speakers and agenda to follow.
St Angela’s Postgraduate Disability Studies Course: Discussion on scholarships available for ILMI members
IMAGE: photo of books
Tuesday 14th June 7:30-8:30pm
Join staff from the Disability Studies Course in St Angela’s to learn about the postgraduate course - how to apply, course content and the process for applying for a St Angela’s / ILMI scholarship. Current students on the Post Graduate Course will also share their experiences of the impact the learning from the course has and what the expectations are for prospective participants.
This will be an informal workshop and there will be an opportunity for questions on the night. Interested? Register at info@ilmi.ie
Housing Practitioner's conference 2022
IMAGE: Claire Kenny in action at the conference
ILMI’s Policy assistant Claire Kenny was invited by the Housing Agency to be a contributor at the disability workshop about Housing and Disability Steering Groups (HDSGs) that was held at Grand Hotel Malahide on the 26th of May as part of the Housing Practitioner's conference 2022.
This was a significant moment for ILMI and comes after many years of campaigning on why it is fundamentally important to have the voices and expertise of lived experience in decision-making structures such as the HDSGs. Additionally, as we know this is stated in the UNCRPD about getting disabled people actively involved in all decision-making structures about OUR lives.
Claire highlighted the importance of having the voices of lived experience as part of all HDSG structures and gave an overview of the series of online programmes ILMI ran such as “Making Inclusion a Reality “and “The ILMI Housing Network” to prepare disabled people and to build their capacity to take up representative roles as part of their local HDSGs
From Claire’s speech “In preparing for today's event we gathered as a collective of disabled people to share the authentic lived experience of what it is like to be a part of these HDSG structures. We identified by being invited to be a part of the HDSG structure disabled people feel a sense of empowerment and fulfilment to be a part of meaningful change for disabled people. We know that a lot of HDSGs are welcoming disabled people onto their local structures. This is a positive development as it was not clear how many disabled people were on HDSGs as part of the old housing strategy for people with disabilities
some areas we feel we all need to work on to make the HDSGs continue to be effective for disabled people’s meaningful engagement.
Need for Disability equality training
• We feel Disability equality training needs to be a fundamental requirement for all HDSG members to attend to fulfil their role on the HDSG. This would allow HDSG members to begin to view housing for disabled people through a rights-based approach
Need for Disabled people to be paid for their time (including expenses)
• Members felt that disabled people have the expertise of lived experience and thus their experience, expertise and time should be valued. This will make sure disabled people’s inputs are valued and that “we are not just the Token disabled person” around the table.
• In order for a disabled person to fulfil their role and contribute effectively, provision should be made to provide adequate support such as PA support, ISL, taxis to and from the venue etc. as outlined under public sector duty.
Need for effective communication
• We feel there should be effective and structured guidelines to How HDSG are conducted. Without a defined structure disabled people often feel “the meeting can be a “tick box exercise” in some cases leading to the same issues being brought up time and time again with no progression.
• Another point noted was the importance of having a designated Point of contact for the HDSG to use if any member of the HDSG has any queries or need support.
• ILMI recommends that all meeting agendas and materials need to be circulated at least a week in advance of the meeting. This is for accessibility purposes but also allows all HDSG members the adequate time to review and contribute to the agenda effectively.
We look forward to seeing the full realisation of the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022 to 2027 and future engagement with the housing Agency.
ILMI ONSIDE Monaghan Museum
IMAGE: Photo shows Museum Director Liam Bradley (Right) with ILMI's ONSIDE Monaghan Community Navigator & Mentor Edel Quinn (Middle) and Coordinator Peter Kearns (Left) posing just across from the busy building site of the new Museum
ILMI are enjoying our ongoing and exciting partnership with Monaghan Museum and supporting their full access wishes for disabled people using the County's near completed brand-new museum building. Photo shows Museum Director Liam Bradley (Right) with ILMI's ONSIDE Monaghan Community Navigator & Mentor Edel Quinn (Middle) and Coordinator Peter Kearns (Left) posing just across from the busy building site of the new Museum, which is beside the Bus Eireann Station. ILMI's Peter is currently Disability Equality proofing the draft programme plans with Liam towards the new Museum's opening in spring/summer 2023. While the partnership will include ILMI's usual promotion of disability equality training for new Museum Board, staff and volunteers, we are even more excited about the possibility of the Museum including references throughout its exhibitions to the history of disabled people in Monaghan and the whole of the Island.
ILMI Strategies for Change (SFC) Update
IMAGE: screenshot of the Zoom class
In this week’s SFC session we explored intersectionality and we were delighted to have Selina Bonnie join us. We learned that intersectionality (multiple layers to our identity) is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and we must consider everything that can marginalise us, be it gender, race, class, sexual orientation.
Disabled people come from all sections of society, all age ranges, we are woman, men, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, wives, husbands, friends, colleagues. We are white, black, come from a different country, and some of us belong to the traveling and LGBTQ+ community.
Disabled people across the world experience oppression because of our impairment label - see - but those that belong to other marginalised groups can experience multiple layers of discrimination and oppression.
It is "better" to be a disabled man than a disabled woman - see https://www.un.org/.../women-and-girls-with-disabilities... , it is "better" to be a white disabled person then to be a black disabled person and it is "better" to be a settled disabled person then it is to be a disabled person that belongs to the travelling community and it is "better" to belong to the LTBTQ+ and be non-disabled than it is to belong to the LTBT and be a disabled person - see
We belong to the disability rights movement, but also belong to the women’s rights movement, to the black lives matters movement, to the LTBGQ+ movement - must work in coalition - see
"There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives"
Audre Lorde
ILMI VOICE Tipperary Update
IMAGE: picture shows a person using a white interactive table that contains games and puzzles that people can use.
On Thursday the Tipperary VOICE online session, Gemma Larkin a Librarian in Tipperary gave a really interesting overview of all the many ways that libraries enrich their local communities. There is an extensive digital archive section of local newspapers dating back to the early 20th century, Poor House records from the 19th century etc., they host exhibitions of local Artists work, they offer over 500 courses online, computer and languages are a few examples. They have audio-books to borrow as well as an app that can be downloaded to allow ebooks to be borrowed.
The attached picture shows a white interactive table that contains games and puzzles that people can use. The Library Service offers a specialist sensory toys and resources collection to assist children with special needs or learning difficulties. This collection allows Tipperary Library Service to create an inclusive space where children have greater access to relevant services and collections. It was the first time for one participant to attend a VOICE online platform session so I gave an overview of ILMI to give context to the VOICE programme.
For more information on ILMI VOICE in Tipperary please contact nicolameacle@ilmi.ie VOICE Community Development Worker 087 718 9237
ILMI VOICE Kilkenny update
On Monday 23 May 2022 at 12.30pm, VOICE Community Development Worker, Paula Soraghan, spoke on Kilkenny Today with Frank Tynan. Paula began by speaking about who ILMI are, their role as a DPO and why they are not a service provider. The discussion was very insightful and Frank was very interested to hear about ILMI and the VOICE project. Paula spoke about the importance of VOICE using online spaces via Zoom to create collective spaces for disabled people to connect. VOICE engages disabled people to think about their mainstream services in their communities and why it is important for disabled people to use these services, such as banking, library services and further education. VOICE also creates the ongoing opportunity for disabled people to meet new people, as well as discussing issues they are facing in a confidential peer space.
ILMI's VOICE Project in the “Kilkenny People” Newspaper
A number of online county platforms for disabled people will take place in Kilkenny in June. Social inclusion is at the heart of the project. The first part of the online county platforms involves a one-hour workshop every Thursday for six weeks. Each VOICE workshop has an exciting guest speaker who works in local businesses or is of local interest.
To register or find out more, please email paulasoraghan@ilmi.ie or call/text Paula on 087 163 0433.
Sligo DPO introduction workshop on Bloomsday
Image: poster for event with text detailed below
Sligo DPO introduction workshop on Bloomsday morning at Sligo Northside Community Centre Forthill (10.30am to 12.30pm) with Peter Kearns, Dr James Casey & Claire Kenny.
email jamescasey@ilmi.ie to register
Information session – Everything you wanted to know about setting up a Sligo Disabled Persons Organisation DPO
Bloomsday 16th June 2022
• Time = 10.30am to 12.30pm
• Venue = Sligo Northside Community Partnership Centre, Forthill
• Tea & coffee provided
• Introduction Workshop to Sligo Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO) - with Independent Living Movement of Ireland and celebrating 'the Voices of Difference'
NDA
The National Disability Authority (NDA) is the independent statutory body that provides information and advice to the Government on policy and practice relevant to the lives of disabled people. The NDA has a role in assisting the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in the co-ordination of disability policy.
Key functions of the NDA include research, developing and collaborating on the development of relevant statistics, assisting in the development of standards, developing codes of practice and monitoring the implementation of standards, codes and the employment of disabled people in the public service.
Currently, there are a number of outstanding vacancies on the NDA board. A competition has been launched via state boards.ie, seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates for consideration for appointment to the roles of Chairperson and Ordinary Members of the Board.
It will be really important that disabled people apply for these positions.
The closing date for this competition is 3rd June 2022. Please see the link for more details.
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