A Co Wicklow village is turning its 32 disabled residents into outcasts due to a severe lack of wheelchair accessible facilities. Regina Daly reports
Despite Ireland's requirement under an EU equality directive to provide equal access for disabled consumers to public facilities, the reality falls a long way short, particularly in rural areas.
Shillelagh in Co Wicklow, 60 miles south of Dublin, is a prime example. The village's disabled residents have to rely on the goodwill of locals to access the local post office, the pub and even the village centre. This, despite the fact that there are 32 disabled residents in the village which has a population of just 300.
Under the Equal Status Act, a person cannot be discriminated against on grounds of disability when they avail of a service. If people are prevented from availing of a service, they have recourse to the Equal Status Act under which the matter can be explored.
Ironically, Shillelagh is the location of the first Cheshire Home in Ireland, set up in the 1960s by a British second World War RAF pilot, Lord Leonard Cheshire, to cater for the physically disabled. The residents of Cheshire Homes, which now number 18 in Ireland, aim to achieve full, equal and independent integration into community life. But this is proving increasingly difficult for the disabled residents of the Ardeen home.
Not only is the interior of the local post office off limits for wheelchair users due to its narrow front door, so are the pub toilets. None of the three pubs in the village, the Avalon, Kennys (the Central House) and Parkview House, has wheelchair accessible toilets. When contacted by The Irish Times, the owner of two of them (Kennys and Parkview House), declined to comment.
Of greater concern to wheelchair users, however, is the problem of access to the village itself, due to the dangerous location of a narrow hump- backed bridge, on the outskirts of the village. The Ardeen residents have to wait until traffic passes before they can safely get onto the bridge, and once they are on it, it's a tight squeeze.
"It's now a health and safety issue, not just for us but for everyone in the village as traffic has got heavier and more constant in recent years", says John O'Kane who has been living in Ardeen Cheshire Home for the past six years. "We now have powered electric chairs which give us greater freedom and independence. It means we can trot up and down ourselves whenever we like, it's only minutes away." he says. O'Kane is secretary of a local group set up about 18 months ago to get a safe crossover at the bridge.
A local councillor and former chairman of Wicklow County Council, Vincent Blake (FG), says the bridge is on the council's list of priority projects. "The director of services has made an application to the Department for funding to have it done. The most recent estimate is over €250,000," says Blake, who is also chairperson of the environment strategic policing committee. He concedes that the Shillelagh bridge was also on the priority list in the 1999 development plan and just over three years ago, the estimate for the costings was €165,000. "Apart from the need for it, the whole community needs it done," he says.
John O'Kane isn't holding his breath. He questions why there is still no access to the post office and pub facilities, despite the imminent introduction of the Disability Bill 2004, due to be enacted next year, and the building regulations on requirements for disabled access which have been around for 12 years. These say all public buildings have to provide reasonable access for disabled persons. Buildings constructed before 1992 are not obliged to do so. The regulations cannot be enforced and there are no grants available for owners to convert their buildings. When the Disability Bill 2004 is enacted next year, all buildings post 1992 will have to become compliant with the buildings regulations.
"All we want is to have the same access to facilities as other people in the community. Nothing has been done with the post office for years. The postmaster tries to help as much as he can. But 95 per cent of the residents now get Ardeen staff to do their business in the post office for them."
Postmaster Mick Rossiter says he has no plans to upgrade the building. "I've no plans to change it and I don't think I'd be able to anyway because the building has a preservation order on it - it's 200 years old. In the last two to three months, only six customers collect their disability here. Now many collect through the bank. I've no problem with coming out of the post office to deal with customers who can't get in," he says.
Of the three pubs in the village, the entrances to two of them - the Avalon and Kennys - are at ground level, with straightforward access. The entrance to Parkview House however isn't but the staff come out with a wooden ramp for Ardeen residents, according to Iris Farrelly, who is 13 years in the village.
"We can get into the pubs because they have double doors, but there's no accessible toilets. We've been promised them, but nothing has been done," she says.
Jarlath Tunney, manager of Ardeen Cheshire Home, says the situation is no different in Shillelagh to other townlands. "There isn't the same understanding in county councils as there is in city authorities."
"Shillelagh has a large portion of people with disabilities living here over 40 years. They don't want to cause problems but the problems they are experiencing have to be highlighted and sometimes you have to be a bit radical.
"People in smaller towns can be a little bit comfortable and safe. I think Irish people in general aren't inclusive. Here, there is still a separation in the community. The Cheshire Home residents don't feel a part of it, despite the fact they contribute to the community," he says. "Ardeen Cheshire Home receives a revenue benefit of €1.4 million, so we're putting a lot of money into the local economy. We employ over 60 staff yet people here with disabilities are in fact a bit 'invisible' - they and their concerns are 'not seen' by the larger community."