A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

2379.1 Understanding the Well-beingof People with DisabilitiesIntroductionThis chapter assesses the well-being of people with disabilities, in line with theframework adopted in the national partnership agreement Towards 2016 andassociated policy frameworks, for example, the National Development Plan andNational Action Plan for Social Inclusion. The National Disability Strategy (NDS) isthe key policy driver in advancing the well-being of people with disabilities.The NDS is a significant milestone in recognising the place of persons withdisabilities in Irish society and of the State’s responsibilities in ensuring theyparticipate on an equal basis with other citizens (NESC, 2005b: 168). The disabilityinfrastructure under construction adopts a developmental welfare state approachthrough individual assessments of need, individual service statements, governmentdepartments’ sectoral plans, multi-annual funding, accessibility plans at localauthority level, and the development and monitoring of codes of practice throughthe National Disability Authority, and the setting and monitoring of standards,including through the Social Services Inspectorate by the Health Information andQuality Authority (HIQA). The aspirations of tailoring services to meet the needs ofpeople with disabilities, and of balancing and inter-connecting service provisionand income supports, plus the stated intention of integrating institutionalarrangements all present a developmental approach conducive to promoting thewell-being of people with disabilities. Such an approach recognises the diversityof people with disabilities. While progress is being made challenges in the widerpolicy process and public service environment, along with curtailments due to therecession, are making implementation difficult and impacting on service provisionfor people with disabilities.The policy framework of Towards 2016 states that the life cycle approach ‘adoptsthe perspective of the person as the centre piece of social policy development’. The‘disability lifecycle’ is set out in addition to the three chronological lifecycle stages(children, people of working age, older people), where people with disabilities will,‘in accordance with the policy of mainstreaming, ... benefit from measures at allstages of the lifecycle’ (Government of Ireland, 2006b: 40). This mainstreamingapproach includes setting out a vision for people with disabilities, along withpriority actions, governance arrangements and monitoring mechanisms.