Mother of four disabled children backs No vote
A MOTHER of four disabled children who provides round-the-clock care is calling for a No vote in the care referendum, saying the proposed amendment fails to give her family any rights.
Samantha Kenny, from Co. Kildare, said the wording means her children and others will be ‘reduced to a burden of care’.
She also said the wording, which recognises care between family members, does not recognise her children’s rights to independence and choices.
Samantha is mother to four children aged 18, 16, 12 and eight. She cares fulltime for her youngest, Ava, who has WolfHirschhorn syndrome, a genetic disorder. ‘We have everything in our house from learning disabilities, to neurodivergences, to physical disabilities,’ Ms Kenny said. ‘I’ve been a carer for the last ten years and I am doing a college course because the cost of living means that I have to re-enter the workforce whether I like it or not.
‘Ava is the one that has the most complexities and the highest care needs, and has the most contact with the different State agencies and bodies, and she’s the one that I’ve had to fight the hardest for.’
She added: ‘We literally do everything for Ava. She cannot even get herself out of bed without support. She needs assistance with feeding, she needs assistance with every aspect of her life.’
The care amendment proposes deleting references to a woman’s roles and duties in the home, and replacing it with a new article that acknowledges family carers.
‘The new [wording] is not going to protect me... It’s reducing Ava to a burden of care,’ Ms Kenny said.
She added: ‘Her rights, her independence, her choice and everything doesn’t matter because her care is based on whether the family can provide or not. There is no mention of community, there’s no mention of the State providing that care. They’re just going to “strive” to support the care that we’re providing.’