‘Local TDs must listen to people with disabilities in Westmeath this summer’

OPINION

by Monica Hughes

While our elected representatives leave Dublin for the summer, heading back to their constituencies, next winter might seem an eternity away. But the summer offers little comfort for people with disabilities. Our representatives at local and national level must return to business in September prepared to speak out for people in disabilities in the next budget negotiations.

While the cost of living crisis has affected us all, the daily costs for a person with a disability are even higher. People in our communities are at breaking point; my colleagues and I see it every day.

One member told me: “This is not living; it is surviving. Poverty is more than paying bills; it is about exclusion from normal life. Many of us struggle to simply keep rent paid, food on the table, the lights on or the heating running. A balanced diet has become a luxury for many disabled people. I have on occasions gone to bed hungry, I wouldn’t have had dinner.”

No one should have to choose between heating their home, buying food, or paying for essential disability-related supports. But that is the reality facing many people with disabilities today.

We know that people with disabilities face significantly higher energy costs than the general population. Many rely on motorised wheelchairs, medical devices and other essential assistive equipment that needs regular charging.

In the winter, and even the summer, people need to keep their homes warmer because they are moving about less, have poor circulation or underlying health conditions. Those are not lifestyle choices or discretionary expenses – they are unavoidable costs of living with a disability.

Many people with disabilities are being pushed into poverty. The government need to introduce a universal cost of disability payment of €55 per week to ensure our members can achieve an adequate standard of living and participate fully in society.

Every day we are working with people who have high prescription costs, need extra home heating, electricity to charge chairs and medical equipment, transport to appointments, mobility-related costs and other countless day to day expenses that people without a disability simply may not have.

I know that every staff member of IWA can think of someone who is cutting back on their food to make sure they have enough money to pay their electricity and heating bills, especially during the winter.

Ireland’s public transport system and national building regulations only meet the bare basic minimum standards in wheelchair accessibility. That blocks people out of education, work and housing. Ireland has one of the lowest employment rates for people with disabilities in the European Union. Only 32.6% of people with disabilities in Ireland are employed, falling below the EU average of 51.3%.

We are excluding people from participating in our society and then refusing to compensate them fairly. Is this the type of community we want to have?

In September, our TDs will be back in Dublin negotiating for Budget 2027. People with disabilities need a €55 per week permanent cost of disability payment, the Disability Allowance must be increased, and the fuel allowance should be extended to 52 weeks of the year for those with a permanent physical disability.

The IWA also demand a one-off emergency disability payment of €400 now, to alleviate the suffering of our members until a permanent cost of disability is introduced.

I would appeal to people as they meet their local TDs at events and festivals around the county over the summer to ask them about a cost of disability payment as people brace themselves for another winter. People with disabilities need the voice of their community behind them.

Learn more about Irish Wheelchair’s campaign for a Cost of Disability payment www.iwa.ie/costofdisability.

Monica Hughes is Irish Wheelchair Association Service Co-Ordinator in Westmeath