The Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan has pledged more support for people with disabilities following the publication of a report claiming that the disabled are twice as likely to be poorer than the rest of the population.
The report, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and entitled Disability and Social Inclusion in Ireland, also says that one in seven disabled people is without basic necessities. It also revealed that compared to people in their own age group, disabled people fare worse in key areas of society such as education, earnings, poverty and social life.
Claire O’Connor, Director of the National Disability Authority
"People with a disability are being excluded from a great deal of Irish social life which the rest of us take for granted", said Claire O’Connor, Director of the National Disability Authority.
Speaking at the launch of the report Mr Brennan acknowledged that aid for the disabled has not kept pace with the growth of the economy on a whole, insisting that it is a situation that will not be "tolerated" and action is being taken "to close that gap".
"This is happening despite the clear progress that is being made through the targeting of people with disabilities for particular attention through increased supports, interventions and entitlements," said Mr Brennan.
The minister added that some €2.9 billion, representing almost 7.5 per cent of gross current public expenditure on services, will be spent in addressing disability issues, compared to €0.8 billion in 1997. The figure does not include the €2.1 billion set aside by the department for income supports and entitlements for the disabled and their carers.
The ESRI has found that people with a disability have lower educational qualifications than those people who do not have a disability. They are four times less likely to have a qualification gone beyond primary schooling and half as likely to reach third level than their counterparts.
Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan
Two separate reasons are blamed - people with disabilities from childhood leave school with lower qualifications. But also people with poorer levels of education are at higher risk of chronic ill-health or disability.
Poor education qualifications contribute to lower employment rates and lowered earning power. On average people with disabilities work shorter hours which also impacts on their income.
All this contributes to lowered weekly wage incomes for people with disabilities compared to others.
The report also shows that people with a more underprivileged background are more likely to suffer from a disabling illness or accident. This is due to factors such as working in more dangerous, lower-paid jobs and being more prone to illness.
Between 1994 and 2001, the report found, the proportion of adults with chronic illness or disability, who were at risk of poverty, rose sharply from 21per cent to 38 per cent while remaining stable at 17 per cent for other adults.
In general, people with a disability are more than twice as likely to be at a risk of poverty, according to the report. The consistent poverty rate for people with a disability is five times that of people without.
People with disabilities or chronic illnesses also experience more restricted social lives in terms of getting out or joining groups.
Only 45 per cent of those severely hampered have had an evening out in the last fortnight compared with 85 per cent of those with no disability. And severely hampering disability reduces membership of clubs by 20 percentage points.