The Disabilities Bill will reduce the number of disabled people entitled to services, a group representing disabled people claimed at the weekend.
At the agm of the Forum of People with Disabilities, members disputed the Government's claims that the Bill was a rights-based piece of legislation and said it would not enhance disabled people's quality of life.
"The Disabilities Bill limits the few rights that people with disabilities already have. The person is not at the centre of this proposed legislation. All of the services offered are dependent on available resources," said forum director Ms Mary Keogh.
"We had been seeking a Bill which provided for positive rights which could be enforced by individuals. We hoped we finally had a Bill that removed barriers to the full participation of disabled people in Irish society. This Bill simply does not deliver. It will not enhance the quality of life for disabled people. They have just built more structures and positions around a faulty system that has failed people with disabilities to date," she said.
Ms Keogh said the definition of the Bill was "exceptionally narrow" and would exclude many disabled people from its provisions.
The definition had been framed using a medical context and used terms such as "substantial restriction" which might prove very difficult to define.
"The definition also uses the term 'continual' service users. However, most disabled people will require a service or access to a service on an occasional or regular basis. Does this definition mean that most disabled people will be excluded from the Bill's provisions?" she asked.
"Under the current Bill, the only winner will be the State through reduced costs for service delivery."
The forum has called for the removal of that definition of disability from the Bill and for the Government to look at existing definitions of disability in law, such as in the Equal Status Act.
