Sir, – Thank you for raising questions regarding intellectual disability services (Letters, December 9th, 11th).
As the mother of a disabled adult, I wonder why are things so quiet in the media during the pandemic regarding the provision of services to the disabled.
In my opinion, people in this society are not interested in the welfare of the disabled or the welfare of their families. I feel Irish society is largely self-interested and uncaring regarding the subject of caring for the intellectually disabled, with the exception of frontline health workers. There is a lack of political will, no representation or no priority given to the subject, and there is also a general lack of interest in the media to write about the subject.
Why don’t families campaign? Families themselves are often too exhausted to campaign. If I start writing and complaining, soon I would have no energy to do that never-ending job of caring. I have to keep my head down and try and survive day in and day out, year in and year out, without a break.
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Sometimes families are afraid of losing the service they have if they complain.
It is exhausting to have to beg for services in this country.
What happens when a carer dies? Why do carers not know what will happen to their loved ones when they die? Why is there no planning for the future?
The State is quite happy to leave the difficult and thankless job of caring for the intellectually disabled to exhausted families, hence saving the State billions. There is no appetite to expand and develop the services to cater for the future of people who are being cared for by elderly relatives.
The population in general is largely complicit in this and mostly turns a blind eye.
One government after another ignores the issue. There is no motivation for the State to spend more to alleviate the burden of care from desperate families who sometimes go for years on a never-ending shift without a break.
What we had before Covid was the bare minimum support services we needed to keep going. Now even that has been cut. When are we going to get our meagre support back? – Yours, etc,
BRIGID O’MAHONY,
Inniscarra,
Co Cork.