UCD Students’ Union: Green Paper on Disability Reform submission.
Introduction
UCD Students' Union (UCDSU) is the representative body for over 37,000 students at Ireland's largest higher education institute. As many of our members stand to have their current and future lives impacted by any proposed changes to disability payments, it is incumbent on us to provide this consultation with their perspective.
UCD Students' Union acknowledges that the current welfare support system is flawed and in need of improvements, however, the position that the Green Paper on Disability Reform takes on the employment and wellbeing of disabled people is troubling, and could worsen the current precarious employment conditions which already put disabled people at a disadvantage.
The Irish job market does not lend itself to provide for disabled people in the workplace. There are concerning restrictions in place which further burden disabled workers, ranging from a lack of extension of statutory sick leave, to workplace accessibility issues.
The Green Paper proposes to replace the multiple existing welfare schemes with a single scheme which will place disabled people in one of 3 tiers, depending on their “capacity to work”. This placement will follow after a medical evaluation of every individual applying for the welfare scheme and, eventually, an evaluation of every individual currently availing of welfare schemes.
2. Position of UCD Students’ Union on the Green Paper on Disability Reform
UCD Students’ Union, following consultation with members, concludes that the Green Paper must be scrapped and a new proposal reflecting the lived experience of disabled people, following UNCRPD legislation and recommendations must be put forward.
UCD Students’ Union also believes that placing disabled citizens on a tiered system based on their ability to work is not a sustainable practice and will not positively contribute to the country’s economic growth. Those who are deemed fit to work but encounter changes in their disability will not be eligible for income supplements which will contribute to increased levels of poverty among those citizens. In addition, UCD Students' Union believes that assessing disabled people on their “capacity” to work is a flawed and ableist approach that fails to take into account the bigger picture and address the real barriers that are keeping disabled people out of the workplace.
3. UCD Students’ Union Recommendations
a) On replacing the Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and Invalidity pension with a single scheme
Currently, the HSE offers multiple welfare schemes for people with disabilities. In other countries, welfare schemes such as the one proposed by the Green Paper have failed. What the Green Paper proposes is similar to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in the UK. This system has proven to be detrimental for disabled people. For example, the UK system’s implementation of PIP has created a domino effect of detriment for people with disabilities as other allowances are impacted based on PIP levels of qualification. This is why UCD Students' Union believes that replacing the current allowances with a single scheme will not work for the benefit of disabled people in Ireland.
b) On a tiered approach to payment levels based on capacity to work
Conducting an annual or bi-annual evaluation of a person with a disability will not lead to a comprehensive report of that person's long-term needs and supposed “capacity to work”. Not only does the Green Paper not fully explain how an evaluation such as the one proposed would be carried, what it truly means to measure a “capacity to work”, and how people are assessed, but it also fails to comprehend that the whole concept of a “capacity to work” is not a holistic approach to address the challenges of disabilities.
Focusing on a “capacity to work” is flawed on multiple levels.
It assumes that the reason why unemployment rates are high amongst disabled people is that they do not want to work, which is an incorrect and ableist assumption. It also assumes that disabled people who currently avail of any welfare scheme might be doing so even though they might have always been “capable” of working. The implication is that disabled people might be availing of these schemes not because of their disability, but because they have found a loophole in the system that allows them not to work. This implication is dangerous and incorrect, since it leads to the belief that disabled people’s employment status is dependent on their desire to work and not on the current barriers of accessibility in the Irish job market. This has been disproven in the past with surveys analysing people’s desire to work and accessibility barriers to work.
Although the Green Paper mentions these accessibility barriers, it does not acknowledge their severity. The Green Paper fails to accept that one of the main (if not the main) factors for disabled people’s lack of employment is that there are little to no accessibility standards in the workplace, such as guidelines for accessible technology, flexible working hours and working breaks and overall accessible facilities within the workplace.
It assumes that it is possible at all to assess people’s disabilities with a measure that only addresses a small part of disabled people’s challenges.
A once-off evaluation, or an evaluation every two years, will not accurately assess a person’s “ability” to work. A person’s ability to work fluctuates over time, and for disabled people, this might be exacerbated depending on the nature of their disability. Disabled people might be placed on the wrong tier and welfare support might become severely diminished.
c) On the tiered approach to the offer or obligation to avail of public employment services
The obligation to engage with Intreo services is further proof that the Green Paper does believe that the reason for the lack of employment amongst disabled people is a lack of willingness to work. This obligation completely invalidates the fact that workplaces are not accessible and it continues to blame the disabled person for their unemployment status. UCD Students' Union believes that the Green Paper should put a much greater emphasis on amending the existing employment laws to accommodate the needs of disabled people.
d) On transitioning people already in receipt of a disability payment to the new approach on a no-loss basis
UCD Students' Union believes that making disabled people re-enter Ireland’s already overwhelmed and underfunded healthcare system by mandating visits to doctors to ensure continuous disability allowance, even in cases of a permanent disability, will put pressure on the system and will not only diminish the quality and availability of care which everyone in Ireland will be able to receive on a day to day basis but it will also force a minority with a lot of pre-existing medical trauma back into a traumatising environment.
The Green Paper also acknowledges that changes in the healthcare system come at a big cost. However, UCD Students' Union believes that making people re-enter the medical system means that the government would have to allocate an immense amount of resources to restructuring the evaluation system. These resources could be reallocated to ensure that there are no accessibility barriers for disabled people in the workplace.
4. UCD Students’ Union Further Recommendations
a) On keeping disabled people out of poverty
While the Green Paper aims to improve the lives of disabled people, it is our belief that this change will decrease the quality of life which disabled people have and make them less independent. The Green Paper reforms will also not aid disabled people to work. UCD Students' Union calls for employment legislation to be strengthened to support disabled citizens to enter and remain in the workforce when or if they are able to do so, without creating a situation where they can be left in poverty due to their disability or inability to work.
UCD Students' Union also calls for tertiary care services for those with disabilities to be created and prioritised to support disabled people who are in the workforce and enable them to access care quickly to assess their condition and ability to work.
b) On introducing legislation to protect and encourage disabled people’s capacity to work
UCD Students' Union asks the Department of Social Welfare to “work[ing] on legislation that would create a legal requirement to provide treatments, therapies, supports and services to disabled citizens”, as suggested by Senator Tom Clonan. At present, Ireland is the only country in the European Union where there is no such legislation.
UCD Students' Union urges the Government to commit to a date to fully ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in Ireland, as is suggested by the Disability Federation of Ireland.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/07/pip-disaster-disabled-access-report-benefits
https://nda.ie/employment/employment-research#:~:text=Survey%20participants%20were%20asked%20what,modifications%20by%2032%20per%20cent
https://tomclonan.ie/core-values/disability-rights/
https://www.disability-federation.ie/news/2024/01/17/green-paper-reform-needed-but-current-proposals-fl/#:~:text=Launch%20of%20the%20Green%20Paper%20on%20Disability%20Reform&text=The%20Green%20Paper%20on%20Disability%20Reform%20was%20launched%20by%20the,opportunity%20to%20review%20its%20contents.
