Cost of disability conference
About the Speakers
Dr. John Cullinan is a Lecturer in Economics at NUI Galway and co-editor of a new book published by Manchester University Press entitled ‘The Economics of Disability: Insights from Irish Research’.
John’s presentation considers the direct private economic costs of disability i.e. the additional disability-related expenditures incurred by individuals and their families. Using an internationally recognised ‘Standard of Living’ approach, estimates of these direct costs for Ireland are presented and found to be 35.4% of disposable income, or €207 per week for the average disabled household.
Overall the analysis shows that the economic cost of disability in Ireland is large and has a significant negative impact on the living standards of the disabled and their families. It suggests that current policy in Ireland does not go far enough in addressing the impact of these extra costs and that it is time to think again about the introduction of a cost of disability payment for those most adversely impacted by such costs.
Dr. Dorothy Watson is an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute(ESRI). She received a Bachelor's degree in Social Science from University College Cork and her MSc and PhD (both in sociology) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Herareas of interest are social inclusion, equality, quality of life, values and belief systems and survey methodology. Her current research projects include work on the measurement of poverty in an Irish and international context, mental health disability, employment of people with a disability, childhood economic vulnerability and welfare regimes and quality of life in Europe.
Dorothy’s presentation examines changes in the social inclusion experiences of people with a disability between the periods of boom and recession in Ireland. Drawing on national data sources, she examines poverty, deprivation, labour market disadvantage and discrimination. She will discuss the paradox of falling poverty rates while basic deprivation was increasing and the continuing disadvantage in terms of labour market and discrimination despite some significant improvements when compared to people without a disability.
Michael Taft is Research Officer with the trade union Unite. Michael is a regular contributor to current affairs and writes the online blog ‘Unite’s Notes on the Front’ a commentary on Irish political economy. Michael will present an analysis on the economic and fiscal benefits of expenditure supports.
Eileen Daly has lived in Dublin since 1994. Originally from Co. Cork, she studied in University College Dublin where she graduated as a Bachelor of Social Science in 1997. She lives independently with the support of her personal assistants. Eileen is a qualified guidance counsellor and life coach. She currently works in the careers advisory service in Trinity College Dublin.
Eileen will talk from the perspective of a person with a disability. She will say that the expectations of disabled people are not different to anyone else –whether that’s to own a home, have a job or have a relationship. However, realising these expectations is often impossible for disabled people due to the extra costs of having a disability.
As Eileen will say:“The hidden costs of disability are a reality. I work full-time, I have a well-paid job, I love what I do but I have hidden costs. My adapted vehicle costs me more to buy, if I want to go out in the evening or go on holiday, I automatically pay for two because my PA is working with me to support me. My heating costs are higher and I frequently have to buy additional medical items due to my disability. I want to work and I will continue to do so. I want to pay my way and support myself.”
Claudia Wood is Chief Executive of Demos. Her primary research interests are health and social care, public service markets and personalisation, ageing, disability and welfare reform. She led Demos’ work on the ‘Disability in Austerity’ study, tracking disabled households since 2010 and the impact of welfare reform. She authored ‘Counting the Cost’, a study of the drivers of disability poverty and ‘Poverty in Perspective’, an analysis of the in-poverty population in the UK.
Claudia will discuss the implications of the findings of ‘Counting the Cost’on benefits designed to alleviate the costs of disability – how these ought to be assessed to allocate resources more accurately, according to additional living costs, rather than based on functional capacity or impairment.
Martin Naughtonis a long-time disability advocate and campaigner.He is one of the people who brought Centrefor Independent Living to Irelandand continuesto be anadvocate for the independent living movement in his role as co-executive director of the European Network on Independent Living.
More recently, Martin established Áiseanna Tacaíochta, a cost-effective user-led network that empowers its members to move from dependency on disability service providers to managing their own personal budgets.
Today, Martin will give his own unique perspective on how people with disabilities are being effectively ‘costed out’ of participation in mainstream society. He will talk about some of the additional costs incurred by people with disabilities to enable their participation in employment and the failure of successive governments to “make work possible” for people with a disability.
Ita Mangan is the Chairperson of the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare. The advisory group is a forum to which the Minister for Social Protection may refer specific issues around income supports and tax systems. To date, the advisory group has completed three reports.
Ita will speak about the work of the advisory group in so far as it relates to people with a disability. This includes the role of both systems inincentivising people with disabilities to work; the financial barriers facing people with disabilities who are able to work and how the systems might be improved to facilitate people with disabilities getting into and remaining in the workforce.
DonalToolanwill chair the morning session. Donal has worked as a broadcast journalist, actor and advocate in various capacities promoting the rights of disabled people over the past 25 years. He was involved in negotiating the establishment of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities in 1993.
He was one of the founders of, and acted as a director of, the Forum of People with Disabilities up until its wind up in 2007. In 2003 he was involved in process to bring about the Disability Act 2005 and represented the Forum as an observer to the UN in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD).
Tom Healywill chair the afternoon session. Tom is the current Chairperson of Inclusion Ireland. A long-time advocate for improved disability services in Galway, Tom brings a parent’s perspective to the discussion on the cost of disability.