Measures to make all public services fully accessible to people with disabilities by 2005 are to be sought by the National Disability Authority.
The measures "would mean bringing about simple, yet revolutionary changes in everyday services such as education, health, transport or housing", the NDA's chairwoman, Ms Angela Kerins, said yesterday.
They would include ensuring that all traffic lights could be heard by people with visual impairment, that all buses and trains are easy to get on and off for all people and that all public information kiosks could be reached by wheelchair users.
"There are many obvious signs of our neglect of the rights of people with disability, ranging from the lack of access to buildings to the difficulty they often have in getting jobs," she said at the launch of the NDA's first strategic plan.
She announced that a campaign to combat discrimination against people with disabilities is to be launched later this year.
Ignorance and fear of the unknown often pervaded the way people saw disability, Ms Kerins said.
The NDA has commissioned a research study into public attitudes towards people with disabilities.
"Equal status is a deeper and more subtle objective than can be achieved through anti-discrimination measures alone," the Minister of State for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Ms Mary Wallace, said, welcoming the campaign.
"The right of all members of society to accessible public services is a prerequisite for equal participation in that society," she added.
The strategic plan outlines four priorities for the NDA: developing policies that promote equal status for people with disabilities; promoting a programme to make public services accessible within five years; influencing attitudes within Irish society.
The strategy document can be read on the NDA website at http://www.nda.ie and on The Irish Times website at www.ireland.com