COVID 19 arrived in Ireland 11 months ago causing huge harm and distress with nearly 4,000 deaths and 1000s of people damaged as a result of the Pandemic
This life changing Pandemic will result in ” normal life “ as we knew it will be no more and as we will have to change how we go about our normal lives for good .
From the perspective of people with ASD and other related disabilities today 11 months ago resulted in the withdrawal of Day Care and Respite Services for over 18,000 people with the State passing on the 24/7 caring of these people to family members ad carers many of whom are in the High -Risk bracket as defined by the the HSE .
The complete abandonment of these people and their carers is shameful and demonstrated the lack of regard that the Irish Government and its agencies hold people with disabilities in and how they are viewed as second class citizens in their own country.
For many years we have listened to politicians pledges of support to persons with disabilities , what happened during the pass 11 months clearly demonstrated that these words are hollow and insincere .
Notwithstanding campaigns from #dontleavethembehind and other organisations in the sector for the full restoration of day care services and respite we found that the State walked away from their obligations and refused to provide services for over 6 months .
In October to a great Fanfare managed by the 4 Ministers who have ” disability ” in their job titles they announced that Day Care Services would be restored , what they failed to say was that this restoration would be for 1 hr a week if the service users was lucky .
The impact of this gross negligence by the Irish Government was shocking and has result in many people with ASD regressing and suffering from serious mental health issues .Their carers and family member are exhausted and at the end of their ability to support their loved ones .
Those of us involved in bringing the Irish Government to account find it an exhausting and endless fight just to get the basic services for our vulnerable dependant adults in the first instance and then to have to face this complete abandonment by the State during a Pandemic was never expected and hugely damaging for people with ASD and their families and carers.
When we look back on how this Pandemic was managed we will see clearly that the Irish Government failed our most vulnerable the elderly in nursing homes with many many deaths and people with disabilities who still fight for any sort of service respite or day care .