‘The doors are being shut on us’
- Dervla opens up about lack of special needs services
“I am appalled at the way that we, as a family, are being treated, but I know that I am speaking on behalf of many families out there who are going through the same thing,” Crystal Swing star Dervla Burke O’Connor said when speaking of the inaccessibility of special needs education and services for her son Paul.
Speaking on The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM this week, Dervla spoke about her son, who has severe non-verbal Autism.
Dervla opened up about the family’s decision to go public about their situation due to the lack of services in east Cork and the wider Cork area when it comes to children with special and additional needs.
“What I’m saying, in our society is a form of child abuse. It’s absolute child abuse. How far have we come in our society? These people are real people.
“My child deserves an education and so do all of these other children. They deserve dignity and respect. It is a constitutional right of ours that we are entitled to an education. The doors are being shut on us and we are getting absolutely nothing,” she said.
‘STRESS & ANXIETY’
According to Dervla, she and her husband Tim are ‘fighting a huge battle’ to get access to the services they require for their 5-year-old son and noted he lack of available spaces for children in special schools
Currently, Paul attends a unit attached to a mainstream primary school, and while Dervla commended the work done in this unit, she noted that Paul would need greater care going forward.
Living with and caring for her son was also discussed, as Dervla noted his lack of understanding, his lack of fearing danger, and how he tends to lash out in frustration, amongst other things.
“I sleep with one eye open all the time, I am on edge all the time. I am exhausted but I have to say my exhaustion, my stress and anxiety will be lifted if I can guarantee that my child gets the services that he needs going forward,” she said
SPECIALIST NEEDS
Speaking with Neil Prendeville, Dervla recounted Paul’s diagnosis of autism and how she stepped back from the band, Crystal Swing, and from her career to become Paul’s full-time carer.
“For a person like myself who was on the social scene a lot over the years, now I’m literally imprisoned in my home. We all are as a family. It’s like a grieving of your child when you’re hit with this diagnosis of autism. We initially thought that Paul would maybe be milder, but he has regressed dramatically.
“I’m finding the whole thing very, very hard because I feel nobody is listening and I am on my knees begging every day for help and support and services that our child deserves. It’s unbelievably stressful and worrying.
“Our number one goal for Paul is to get a place in a special school. We will not settle for anything less. Yes, he deserves all of the other interventions and we as a family deserve some respite every now and again, if we get these things, and it’s not a whole lot to ask for, it will be like winning the lottery. No money could buy it what this would do for us as a family,” Dervla added.