Sir, - Usually I enjoy Kevin Myers's acerbic view of life, but I feel his piece on disability (December 7th) was somewhat wide of the mark. Anti discrimination legislation is being introduced to allow Ireland to ratify the UN convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Many other countries already have such legislation.
Practical effects depend on cases and judges, but such legislation is an acknowledgment of minority rights and it raises public awareness of discrimination this is important in the disability area, where discrimination is often marked by attitudes of pity rather than open hostility.
What constituted equality has kept eminent political theorists busy for years; but I would see formal equality before the law, and some degree of equality of opportunity, as being essential to democracy. I agree with Kevin Myers that disabled people - particularly those with severe disabilities - need unequal or preferential treatment in order to participate in some areas of life; but this does not detract from their basic, formal equality as human persons. Such preferential treatment stems from society's desire to level the proverbial playing pitch and get a better - more equal? - game.
Whether or to what degree disability is a socially constructed category is another question to keep the theoreticians talking late into the night. But it is possible to accept the enormous influence which social structures and attitudes have on people with disabilities, without going all the way on social construction.
Things do tend to get stuck in the moulds that suit majorities, expectations colour performance, and people have a tendency to hear and see what fits in with their beliefs. Disabled people have made it clear that they wish to overcome these invisible barriers by using, as far as possible, the same services as everyone else. Mostly, nowadays this is possible. It is also cheaper as long as their needs are built in at the planning stage.
Although I have been pushing my daughter's wheelchair for many years, it wasn't until I worked on the transport and mobility group for the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities that I realised how crucial transport is. Buses with steps block young disabled people, in particular, from school and job opportunities.
Not everyone with a disability can drive, not everyone can afford a car. And in spite of my own travels with a wheelchair, I didn't know about low floor buses. In fact, I had thought of public transport as a lost cause. Yet many European cities have low floor buses and trams which suit not bust wheelchair users, but prampushers, Christmas shopping sufferers and those of us with protesting joints.
The last group is one to remember. There is no wall between ability and disability. Anyone could find him/herself part of the disabled minority tomorrow; so it makes self interested sense to subscribe to arrangements which keep disability from affecting ordinary life.
When I hear about Celtic tigers - and disappearing chimes in the slime - I find it hard to accept arguments about lack of resources. Societies find the money for the things they think worthwhile. In mitigation, the American experience (since the American With Disabilities Act) suggests that the investment in accessibility was not as large as forecast, while the number of disabled people in employment has exceeded expectations. Think of it, more taxpayers! Yours. etc.,
De Val Avenue, Sutton,
Dublin 13.