SOON-TO-BE Taoiseach Simon Harris claims that he first got involved in political life to campaign for better educational services for children with autism, but some activists say he has yet to prove himself on this front.

“When my brother was born with special educational needs I started campaigning in my area to deliver better educational services for kids with autism. I know the difference politics can make and I want to bring those personal values to the office of leader of Fine Gael,” Harris told RTÉ News last week when announcing his leadership bid.

He again referred to this yesterday after being confirmed as leader of the party, but disability activists say much remains unknown about what Harris will do to improve the lives of disabled people. 

Ann Marie Flanagan, a disability rights campaigner and activist, told The Journal that Harris’ time as Minister for Health from 2016 to 2020 does not instil huge confidence in her for his prospective term as head of the Government.

Flanagan, who has lived with a physical impairment from birth and has significant support needs, has been an activist for almost her whole life.

Most recently she is known for her involvement in the Equality not Care group that campaigned for a No vote in the Care referendum.

Speaking to The Journal, Flanagan said when she thinks of Harris’s time as Minister for Health nothing jumps out at her in terms of him improving the lives of people with disabilities.

The jury is out for me.

“The history of Fine Gael to date has been weak in terms of socio-economic rights of disabled people,” Flanagan said.

When it comes to improving the lives of people with disabilities, Flanagan said Harris should prioritise fully implementing the 2005 Disability Act so that parents do not have to go to the district courts in order for their children to have a needs assessment.

The 2005 Act obliges the State to promote equality and social inclusion while also providing for a complaints mechanism in the case of non-provisions of services. 

Flanagan said supports and services need to be provided on a rights-based basis and added that more needs to be done to assist disabled people to enter the workforce. 

Flanagan cited the UK’s Access to Work scheme as a model Ireland should consider following and made the point that Ireland’s Reasonable Accommodation Fund is under used because it goes to employers – so an individual has to have already found work to benefit from it. 

Flanagan also argued that the medical card needs to be totally separated from work so that disabled people aren’t prevented from working because they fear they will lose their medical cards.

“The amount of people who are trapped in poverty, because they make informed decisions every day: ‘I need my medical card to live. Whereas you know, I could do without a job’,” Flanagan said.

She added:

Society is constantly getting the message that disabled people cannot go to work.

Senator Tom Clonan

Meanwhile, Independent Senator Tom Clonan, who has also long campaigned for disability rights was more hopeful of what a Harris-led Government might achieve for disabled people. 

Clonan said Harris has a “demonstrated track record of acting quickly and meaningfully to support disabled citizens”.

In 2020, Clonan successfully campaigned for third-level students with disabilities in private colleges to have access to State supports.

This was after his son Eoghan, who has a disability which means he needed a carer who could travel to and attend college with him, had secured a place to Dublin Business School but was not eligible for State supports because it is a private college. 

After an online campaign, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris intervened and fixed the funding anomaly. 

Reflecting on his intervention today, Clonan said Harris did exactly what he said he would. 

“He saw that there was something wrong, he saw that there an unfairness there and he didn’t just respond to me and say, ‘Look, I hear you, you have my sympathy’, he also acted on it. 

“He acted within 24 hours with his department to make the changes necessary,” Clonan said.

Senator Clonan added:

I’m hoping that he will be a voice at Cabinet that will be more sympathetic to the fundamental human rights of disabled citizens and carers.

“And I think because of his own lived experience of additional need, his experience of neurodiversity and so on, he understands what ableism is.”

Simon Harris’ younger brother, Adam Harris has autism and is the founder and chief executive of autism charity AsIAm.

Senator Clonan said he hopes Simon Harris will support legislative changes that will bring Ireland in line with other EU countries when it comes to the fundamental rights of disabled people. 

He said Harris’s number one priority relating to disability rights as Taoiseach should be to ratify the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“That’s in the program for Government, they need to do that immediately,” Clonan said.