As we witness daily failures or =f the Government and the HSE to deliver any meaningful services for people with disabilities and look at waiting lists for basic assessment now running at over 4 years with the HSE stating that they cannot deal with providing these assessment and demanding that carers take home courses to give them ” skills ” to assess the needs of their children with special needs the time has come to appoint a special officers to examine these failures and hold various Government departments and agencies to account.
The Irish Government has 5 Ministers with disability responsibilities in their job description yet has failed to deliver on the various demands faced by people with disabilities and their carers ,indeed the appear to spend their time revert all issues to the HSE who see people with disabilities and their carers as a non- priority group .
Don’t Leave Them Behind are requesting the appointment of a Ombudsperson to deal with the failure of the State to provide urgent and key services for people with autism.This weeks report by the Ombudsman for Children pointed to the shameful situation that children with autism are dealing with in their attempts to get an assessment of needs and specialist interventions .
Meanwhile people with autism and their families are living in this unjust and unfair system that has failed them significantly and which during the pandemic exposed how little State organisations cared for or about the needs of people with Autism .
People with Autism cannot wait any longer for services and supports that they are legally entitled to and certainly can’t wait until the Government deliver a Plan of action sometime in 2023.
Don’t Leave Them Behind are calling for the appointment of a new Ombudsperson to champion the rights of people with disabilities.
The Ombudsperson would close the gap between what the State are legally required to provide and what is actually happening for people with disabilities.
In- particular the Ombudsperson would ensure that the ” passing the parcel “ by State organisation who fail to deliver services and who make it as difficult as possible for people with disabilities and the families to access their rights and services including access to education, work, healthcare, and high quality social services .
The Ombudsperson with have statutory authority to enact changes in law ,changes on how bodies such as the HSE and the Department of Of Heath and the Department of Education are deadline with the delivery of key and vital services for people with disabilities..
The current Ombudsman and the Children’s Ombudsman are snowed under dealing with a large body of work and are also dealing with significant delays as a result of COVID 19 ,people with Autism cannot wait any longer for these critical services to be delivered to them.
Don’t Leave Them Behind are requesting that the Government working with key stakeholders ,autistic people, start to explore the potential role of the Autism Ombudsperson and to works towards an appointment of this vital office in the next number of months.