Disability issues were outlined
Housing with no stairs, toilets with hoists and benches, more buses and supports to get work and live independently - these were some of the demands from over 50 disabled people who met some of the General Election candidates at a hustings at the Northside Community Centre last Wednesday morning.
The event was organised by Inclusion Ireland, Disability Federation of Ireland and Independent Living Movement of Ireland and supported by Sligo Leader Partnership Company.
Nine candidates attended, Labour’s Nessa Cosgrove; Blaithin Gallagher, Green Party; Fianna Fail TD’s Marc MacSharry, Eamon Scanlon and Cllr Shane Ellis; Deputy Martin Kenny, Sinn Féin. Cllr Thomas Walsh, Fine Gael and Independents, Marian Harkin and Cllr Declan Bree.
“Disability issues have featured very little on the political agenda,” said Noirin Clancy, of Inclusion Ireland. “What was important about this event is people with lived experience of disability talking directly to candidates about the reality of their lives and telling them what needs to change. Many said they wanted to move out of home or institutional settings so more accessible housing is needed, others said they wanted support to get ‘paid work’.
It was pointed out that a Changing Places is urgently needed in Sligo - a fully accessible toilet with a hoist and bench, without which many cannot go out at all for fear of having to use a toilet.
Candidates responded with commitments, if elected, to increase funding levels and supports and work to get the ‘optional protocol’, a complaints mechanism of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified.