A new group representing people with disabilities and their families is calling for a No vote in the referendum on care, describing the proposed amendment as “patronising politics”.
Equality Not Care says the wording which recognises care between family members, overlooks the rights of adults with disabilities to have independent lives.
At a press conference this morning the group said the government’s proposed wording to remove language in the constitution around women’s life in the home and replace it with a recognition of care between family members to one another – is ablest and ageist.
It perpetuates the notion, they said, that people with impairments are burdens on their families rather than people with right holders on an equal basis with everyone else.
One member, Dr Margaret Kennedy, who is 71 and living with a neuromuscular disease said the proposed new article on care, 42B, will consign sick and disabled people to dependency.
She said it is being proposed by a government that has not ratified the optional protocol on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
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Another spokesperson Michael O’Dowd urged people to reject the referendum and call for another vote that would instead seek to enshrine the rights of people with disabilities in the constitution.
The group says it is reliant on the donations of individuals and will run an effective campaign.
It comes after Family Carers Ireland launched its campaign for a yes vote, saying it would enshrine in law the invisible work of carers.
They said the proposed amendment on care would not give families everything they are looking for, but it would be a positive step forward.
