Jimmy Deenihan
Question:48 Mr. Deenihan asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason blind people are excluded from the mobility allowance scheme and the personal assistance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14943/00]
Written Answers. - Health Board Allowances.
The mobility allowance for people with disabilities was introduced by Department of Health circular No. 15/79 and is available to all persons with disabilities, including those with a visual impairment, who meet the eligibility criteria laid down in that circular. Circular No. 15/79 states the following:
The scheme applies to persons in the age group 16 to 66 years who are unable to walk and who would benefit from occasional trips away from home.
Although eligibility is confined to persons who are normally living at home, Mobility Allowance may continue to be paid in respect of occasional stays in hospital of up to eight weeks.
As stated, an applicant must be under pensionable age. However, an allowance, once granted, will be continued after this age as long as the other criteria for eligibility are met.
The essential medical criterion for the grant of the allowance is that the applicant is unable to walk, even with the use of artificial limbs or other suitable aids, or is in such a condition of health that the exertion required to walk would be dangerous. It is necessary that this criterion should be interpreted strictly. The inability to walk has to be likely to persist for at least one year and the applicant must not be forbidden for medical reasons from being moved. The applicant must be in a condition to benefit from a change in his or her surroundings.
It is a matter for the senior area medical officer in the relevant health board to decide whether the medical criteria are satisfied in any individual case.
The Deputy may also be aware that the blind welfare allowance comes under the aegis of my Department. The health boards operate this scheme in conjunction with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland.
The purpose of the blind welfare allowance is to provide supplementary financial support to unemployed blind persons receiving disability allowance, a blind pension or an old age pension. To be eligible to receive this allowance, applicants must satisfy the following conditions. They must undergo medical assessment for their visual impairment; they must not be maintained in an institution; and they must be unemployed.
Both the mobility allowance and the blind welfare allowance are means tested schemes. Further details of these schemes may be obtained from the relevant health board.
Health boards provide a range of support services to enable people with physical and sensory disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community. This range of services includes respite care, day care and home support services. Home support services include personal assistants, home helps and care attendants, all of whom provide different levels of service to the individual. Personal assistants provide assistance at the discretion and direction of a person with a severe disability with everyday tasks, such as personal care, household tasks, interpreting and transport, which the person is unable to do for him or herself. The level of support required by a person with a sensory disability, including a person with a visual impairment, would not usually encompass personal assistance services.