‘Equality Not Care’ Group will campaign for No Vote

A new group ‘Equality Not Care’ has been founded to campaign for a no vote in the forthcoming referendum on March 8th, with a focus on what they say is discrimination against disabled people and family members. 

A a briefing in Buswells Hotel today, the group said it was made up of concerned citizens including disabled people, family members providing support, and others, and that their campaign will strongly focuses on supporting equality and rights of everyone in the family and ensuring people are not entrapped in the guise of recognising ‘care’.

The group feels the Government is discriminating against disabled people and family members. They believe the proposed amendment to the Constitution – 42B – is another way of saying, “to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

The group are of the view that 42B is ableist and ageist perpetuating the notion of people with impairments being burdens on families rather than rights-holders on an equal basis with everyone else.

A spokesperson for the group, Ann Marie Flanagan said “42B seeks to deny our autonomy, dignity and equality. It also seeks to deny us the right to state support such as personal assistance services.”

“We have a Disability Act 2005 that is still not fully commenced, already forcing parents into court for a Needs Assessment for their children. What is required is constitutional obligations to provide support services to enable everyone to participate in economic, social and cultural life,” she said.

“This referendum is made up of smoke and mirrors which is designed to confuse and mislead women and men, providing support and requiring support. It is a complete disregard for people’s rights. There is no dignity or autonomy in this referendum.”

Ms Flanagan went on to say that “the vast majority of carers are women. The replacement wording removes any mention of economic rights and denigrates the dignity of the family”.

Michael O’Dowd, a member of the Equality Not Care group also stated that “It is imperative that the constitution values and recognises everyone’s rights including independent living support needs”.

“The referendum fails to fulfil the comprehensive support promised by the Citizens Assembly, abdicating on creating a truly equitable society. We firmly oppose the notion that support should rest on families, as this unfairly entangles lives and overlooks the rights of adults with support needs to have independent lives. It further denies other family members that same right.”

Another contributor at the meeting, Dr Margaret Kennedy said that “Equality of men and women, includes disabled woman and men and older women and men. No democratic State or Civil Society organisation has the right to discriminate based on disability or age. This is what 42B will do if passed. So together, vote no, and make sure the next referendum does what it is obliged to do; cherish all its children (and adults) equally.”

The group said over two thousand disabled people are living in congregated institutions, many of which are big, old outdated buildings, with a further 1300 young people living in nursing homes for older people, as investigated by the Ombudsmen in the Wasted Lives Report.

They said it was feared that Ireland “still operates from the workhouse mentality of warehousing people”.

“Furthermore, disabled people are effectively institutionalised within their own homes by the absence of essential personal assistance services. Homeless disabled children and adults make up a staggering 25% of the homeless demographic. This country’s treatment of disabled persons falls shamefully short of recognising human rights standards,” they said.

‘Equality Not Care Vote No 42B’ group is calling for a genuine constitutional referendum that expresses a modern interpretation of equality of the sexes with due regard for intersectionality as protected under the 9 grounds in Ireland’s equality legislation