Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 April 2024
282. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the list of recognised disabilities under the Disability Act 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18494/24]
View answer283. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if ADHD is a recognised disability under the Disability Act 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18495/24]
View answer284. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if dyspraxia is a recognised disability under the Disability Act 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18496/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 282, 283 and 284 together.
The Disability Act 2005 does not define disability by way of reference to individualised impairments or medicalised diagnoses. The Act instead interprets disability as meaning a “substantial restriction in the capacity of the person to carry on a profession, business or occupation in the State or to participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual disability”.
This definition takes a broadly functional approach to disability, recognising that an individual's specific circumstances, societal barriers, and medical history will all have an impact on the extent to which a person is or is not "disabled". This is in line with the social model approach to disability set out in the UNCRPD. It also provides a more flexible definition to practitioners where specialised health needs arise that is not tied to a prescriptive list of conditions - which runs the risk of inadvertently excluding people from recognition or supports.
Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018. In line with the UNCRPD, Ireland has moved away from a medical model of disability, which understood the barriers and challenges faced by disabled persons as owing to their specific impairment, and therefore a matter for individualised treatment. In line with the preferred social model of disability, Ireland takes a functional approach to the consideration of disability in policy and services, whereby social, financial and environmental factors – rather than diagnosis alone - are key in determining the type or extent of support required by an individual.
