Disparaging comments in a Sunday newspaper about the Paralympic Games were particularly unfortunate given that the State will in 2003 be the first venue outside the US to host the Special Olympics, it was claimed at a conference on disability yesterday.
"It is going to be the biggest sporting event ever held in Ireland," according to Ms Mary Kealy, director of services for the Brothers of Charity in Clare. About 7,000 competitors are expected to enter the 2003 Special Olympics in Dublin.
The Paralympics are held for people with physical disabilities and the Special Olympics for those with intellectual disabilities.
As services such as support employment programmes were becoming integrated with the community, the contribution of people with intellectual disabilities was being felt, she said, before the opening of the Brothers of Charity Services national conference in Limerick, which has "Inclusion in the new Millennium" as its theme.
Ms Fiona Coffey, evaluation officer with the Brothers of Charity, said the organisation's work was to ensure people had a right to choice and participation. She said the Sunday Independent comments, describing the Paralympics as grotesque and perverse, were outrageous and insulting to everybody.
Mr Brian O'Donnell, chief executive of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies (NFVB), said the remarks were intemperate and ignorant and called on the newspaper to apologise.
The NFVB is an umbrella organisation for non-statutory agencies providing services to people with intellectual disabilities. There are more than 25,000 people with intellectual disabilities in the State. Mr O'Donnell said waiting lists had become the federation's biggest priority, with more than 3,000 people waiting for day, residential and respite services.
Meanwhile, the new Disabilities Bill, currently being drafted, would provide another legislative basis for people with disabilities to participate as equal members of society.