Press Release on Lack of Funding for INCARE

30 DISABLED PEOPLE STAGE 24 HOUR VIGIL OUTSIDE THE DAIL AS INNOVATIVE PROGRAMME CONTINUES TO FACE EXTINCTION!!!

30 people with significant physical disabilities, who held a 24 hour vigil outside Leinster House, are angered and shocked at Minister for Health, Brendan Howlin's response to their demand for resources to enable them to live independently in the community.

The Minister's commitment of £30,000 donated by Rehab Lotteries - not government resources - falls far short of the £150,000 required by the Center for Independent Living (CIL) to provide personal assistants for 30 disabled people until the end of the year.

The Minister in his response to the 30 participants on the INCARE programme - the first personal assistance scheme in this country - who were in the Dail chamber at 12:30am last night (Wednesday, 29th of June, 1994), failed to give any commitment to the establishment of an Independent Living Fund called for by CIL.

CIL are determined to fight this issue with the government, motivated by the fact that after Friday when resources run out, many of the disabled people on the INCARE programme who have had the opportunity to go to work, college and to live independently as a result of having personal assistants, will face the prospect of having to return to institutional care.

Florence Dougall, a participant on the scheme who moved into her own apartment 18 months ago, added: "I am not going back into an institution, and I'm not breaking up my home which I've enjoyed for the last year and a half. If I've no personal assistant to get me out of bed or whatever, I'm going on hunger strike. I believe I have the right to live my life the way I want to, and if I die on hunger strike, it'll be for a good cause - a cause for all disabled people to live a life of their own choosing, not one which they're told to live by everyone else. Remember, this can happen to anyone, but we all have the same right to live - and continue to live - the life we want to."

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Press Release on Lack of Funding for INCARE

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