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With the onset of the Social Model of disability and an unprecedented level of legislation promoting and protecting the rights of PWID in the 1990’s, societal attitudes towards this minority group have started to change. Services provided to PWID also began to dramatically change the way in which they were delivered and managed. Although some PWID continue to live in segregated institutionalised and hospital-based settings, community-based living began to emerge. Many large organisations such as Stewarts Hospital, St. John of Gods and St. Michaels House began to provide services in more

‘normalised’ settings in local communities. Such settings were influenced by the Social Model of disability, disability representative groups such as the NDA and Inclusion Ireland, and the development of policy and enactment of legislation promoting equality, inclusion and the rights of PWID.

In June 2011, the HSE published their Report on the Working Group on Congregated Settings titled ‘Time to Move on from Congregated Settings’.

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The key findings in this Report as stated by (Dolan 2016) are to propose a new model of community-based support for people with disabilities. The Report proposed that institutionalised care and congregated settings should cease to be. There is a specific focus on the concept of inclusion for people with disabilities and the Report stated that

‘people living in congregated settings will move to dispersed forms of housing in ordinary communities…they will have entitlement to mainstream community health and social services like any other citizen’ (Dolan, 2016, p.4). Thus, the proposed new model of service delivery advocates for support that specifically promotes inclusion which is aimed at linking PWID to their own locality and community where they can build natural relationships and friendships in that setting. In 2012, the HSE published another crucial report titled ‘New Directions’.

This set out very explicit and specific guidelines for the delivery of day services to PWID. Again, a key theme in this Report was the importance of ‘inclusion’ for PWID as the document is based on the core values of person centredness, community inclusion, active citizenship, and high-quality service provision’ (HSE 2012, p.21). The Report goes on to stipulate that PWID should be supported to be included in their communities and supported to have meaningful social roles. The changes proposed in New Directions are explicitly linked to policies of mainstreaming and inclusion that were an integral component of the National Disability Strategy of 2014. However, despite the advancements of policy, legislation and service delivery specific to promoting community inclusion for PWID, recent research has informed that many PWID continue to experience isolation and loneliness.

The then chairman of the NDA, Peter McKevitt (2011) in the National Survey of Public Attitudes to Disability in Ireland (2011) reported that ‘public attitudes towards people with disability can be a key facilitator or a serious barrier to their inclusion and participation in society and that their findings in their Survey unfortunately showed a hardening of public attitudes across all types of disabilities, and of particular concern are the less positive attitudes towards children with disabilities in mainstream education’.

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According to McKevitt (2011, p.5), ‘the findings in the survey while disappointing, indicate the importance of ensuring that Irish society and all its stakeholders must recognise the need to address the negative attitudes that exist if we are able to achieve real and meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities in Irish society’. Based on this, Cahill (2012) of Inclusion Ireland has stated that the findings in the NDA survey are worrying and must be a wakeup call to government.

Massie (2006) in Hannon (2006, p.24) claimed that ‘accepted ways of thinking, reacting and doing business become firmly embedded in society and can be remarkably resistant to change. Negative attitudes can become institutionalised...we often see the impact of negative attitudes in how one person treats another. But negative attitudes are also the foundation stone on which disabling policies and services are built. Harmful attitudes that limit and restrict are institutionalised in policies and services and so maintain the historic disadvantage that disabled people have faced’. So, while accepting that disability specific legislation and the evolution of models of disability has had some success in fostering greater community inclusion for PWID, the fact remains many PWID remain socially excluded from their communities.

From an Irish perspective, this is of particular importance as statistics released in 2016 from the National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD) inform that nearly 30,000 people are registered as having an intellectual disability in Ireland. (For the Number of People Registered on the National Intellectual Disability Database 2016 see Appendix 2).

However, it should be noted that not every person with an intellectual disability is registered on the NIDD and, according to Inclusion Ireland (2016), the national census published in 2016 inform that the numbers of people reporting to have an intellectual disability in Ireland are significantly higher, totalling over 60,000 individuals. It is also worth noting that the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (2015) (CARDI) noted there is no equivalent to the National Intellectual Disability Database in Northern Ireland (NI). However, over 16,000 people are known to access services for the intellectually disabled in that region.

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Thus, it is estimated that there are over 67,000 PWID living on the island of Ireland, yet research informs that many continue to experience exclusion, marginalisation and social isolation. Cahill (2012) has claimed that people with disabilities feel more socially isolated, public attitudes are more negative and further action is needed to stop PWID slipping further away from Irish society. The majority of PWID also experience segregation from the mainstream employment. According to the Equality Authority and Economic and Social Research Institute (2014), one in three people who are not in employment because of having a disability will experience enforced deprivation.

Inclusion Ireland reported that only 5% of PWID had meaningful employment in Ireland in 2015, even though they have the right to work. More recently, the Department of Justice and Equality released the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017 – 2021 in an attempt to achieve best possible outcomes and to improve the lives of all people with disabilities living in Ireland. The main reasons for launching this strategy was because people with disabilities continue to experience serious disadvantages in accessing employment, many are lonely, they are at a higher risk of experiencing consistent poverty and experience significantly poorer educational outcomes to that of their peers.

Thus, the accounts and stories of the isolation, marginalisation and segregation of PWID at international and national level are significant and widespread. While social policy, legislation and many service providers have made genuine concerted efforts to ensure PWID experience inclusion in their communities, for many this is not their lived reality.

Today in Ireland, over 4000 PWID continue to live in institutions, Many PWID continue to be supported under a medical model of care, the majority of PWID are not included in our workforce, the vast majorities of service provision to PWID remains ‘specialised’

and ‘segregated’ and public attitudes are ‘hardening’ towards this minority group of people. Routine findings from HIQA inspections also inform that many PWID do not get to experience and use their community like any other person and opportunities to avail of local amenities may be dependent on available staffing resources.

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Despite these findings, one disability and sporting organisation, the Special Olympics Ireland have continued to claim that they are ensuring PWID are socially included in their local communities. The Special Olympics state that they are changing the lives of PWID and in doing so are solving global issues of injustice and isolation that many PWID experience on a day to day basis. That said, the SO also make claim that PWID are respected, socially included and viewed positively by the general public. There is no doubt that sport for people with disabilities can play a critical role in promoting social inclusion and diversity. Participation in sport can teach a person with a disability life skills and social skills which can support PWID to adapt into society and their local communities.

According to Gilbert and Schantz (2008) participating in sporting activities is one way in which people with disabilities can be treated as equals. It is a way for people with disabilities to acquire greater self-esteem and to be more confident. The acquisition of skills like these can enhance participation opportunities in everyday life for many people with disabilities. Notwithstanding that sport and participation in sport can be beneficial in supporting the process of inclusion, the claims made by the Special Olympics warrant further investigation as disability policy, legislation and service providers have systematically failed to ensure that PWID experience meaningful inclusion in their communities over the years

2.5 CONCLUSION

This chapter discussed in detail the historical, political and societal responses to people with disabilities specific to Ireland from the 1800’s, and the Lunacy Ireland (Regulation) Act 1871 to the present day. Critical discussion was presented on how people with disabilities were defined in key pieces of legislation and how such definitions impacted and continue to impact on the everyday lives of this minority group.

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The medical model and social model of disability were critically analysed taking into account how each model impacted on the acceptance of PWID in society. As identified previously, PWID experienced routine marginalisation and exclusion from many western societies, up until the 1980’s and early 1990’s. These decades also witness the emergence of the social model of disability and the enactment of legislation, protecting and promoting the rights of all PWID. However, many PWID continue to live lives on the peripheral of society and it is reasonable to conclude that, as political and societal responses to disability evolved, they did not eradicate their predecessor. While there may have been improvements in the way PWID were treated and provided for, they largely remained segregated from society and many failed to experience meaningful inclusion.

The next chapter will discuss the history of sport, with a specific focus on how it can and has fostered more inclusive communities in general. The focus will narrow to the Olympics Games, the history of their development and their evolution over time from simple participation in the Games to survival of the fittest and elite athleticism. In 1960 for the first time ever Olympic-style games for athletes with a disability were held in Rome, Italy. These were the Paralympics and the following chapter will also provide an account of their history and how they also support the process of inclusion for people with physical disabilities. Finally, a detailed discussion will be provided on the Special Olympics to include their establishment and growth to date and in particular a critique on their claims that they are creating more inclusive communities for PWID in Ireland today. A specific focus on how the imagery the SO use to portray PWID and how such imagery impacts on Irish attitudes towards this minority group will be examined.

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CHAPTER 3: