Holiday breaks denied to those most in need of them

Limited holiday opportunities for the disabled and lack of information on access forces many families to stay at home, writes Marianne O'Malley.

Holidays are a cheerful, even frivolous, subject for those of us who have the freedom to pick and choose our options and our destinations, limited only by our bank balance.

But not so cheerful if a barricade of obstacles prevents those most in need of a break from getting one.

Our wheelchair-hostile environment, inadequate public transport and lack of public amenities mean precision planning is essential. (One independent wheelchair user told me when he travels in Ireland he has to limit his fluid intake for 24 hours prior to departure because of the scarcity of publicly accessible toilets.)

But planning a trip is almost impossible when vital information on where to go, and where to find appropriate, affordable accommodation is not freely available. The Government's strategy to mainstream services for people with disability contains a commitment to ensure that these are provided by the agencies that deliver the services to the whole community.

Fáilte Ireland, previously known as Bord Fáilte, was entrusted with the assessment and validation of their affiliated businesses to provide for disabled access countrywide. They introduced a system of tiered certification known as VAS (Validated Accessible Scheme). This tiered system should give valuable and comprehensive information on physical access to everyone, not just those who use wheelchairs.

But of the 5,451 Fáilte Ireland-registered service providers, less than 70 will have been assessed and validated for disabled access by the time the brochures and marketing information for the 2004 season go to print. That means, for yet another year the Irish and international community of people with disability and mobility impairment will be deprived of meaningful tourism information.

Mr Douglas Jordan, registrar for Fáilte Ireland, rejects criticism of this voluntary system. "We've started the process and we'll be building on it."

If, however, Fáilte Ireland automatically assessed every affiliated business for accessibility during their regular inspections, and added an "inaccessible" category to the existing VAS, then people with disability would have a valuable resource to consult when trying to plan a holiday. And Fáilte Ireland would not be leaving itself open to the accusation of paying lip service to disability awareness.

According to Ms Angela Kerins, chairwoman of the National Disability Authority, "It is unacceptable that people with disabilities cannot access the same services as everyone else. All businesses would agree that removing barriers to your customers makes sound commercial sense. Overall, it is estimated there are 37 million tourists with disabilities in Europe alone in addition to the rising number of older people. What is the Irish tourism industry doing to attract this market to Ireland? Not a lot it seems."

For many families and individuals with disability, the obstacles and lack of information are too great to even consider venturing independently away from home. They have to rely on voluntary bodies and service providers to offer them an organised group holiday, summer-camp or home-based respite service.

However, with prohibitive hikes in insurance costs, and increasing emergency demands for limited resources, many of these are reduced or cancelled this summer.

It is 12 years since the Hurley family from Wicklow went away on a holiday. This was shortly after their daughter, Aoife, was born and diagnosed with cerebral palsy. "Aoife is a really happy, sociable girl but she hates to be away from her familiar surroundings at night. Trying to cope with her specific needs and her wheelchair on a family holiday would be just too difficult," says her mother, Esther.

The family are looking forward to a time when Aoife will be confident enough to avail of overnight respite but for now the eight- week summer school break is unrelenting hard work.

"At the moment, I'm not interested in a holiday away. What I really want is to be able to do simple things with our seven-year-old son and spend time with our older children without it conflicting with Aoife's needs. A holiday for me would be reliable respite where someone would care for her at home for a few hours once or twice a week. But living in the country it's very difficult to find people for the home respite service," says Esther.

Rosemary Peacock from Bray is another parent trying to survive the school holidays. She is a separated mother of three young children. Jennifer, the eldest, is nine years old and is severely disabled.

Although the family receives a good respite service it is still very difficult to cope. "I've two young boys of four and five who want to be out and about, and so does Jennifer. But I can't afford a car for her wheelchair and the walk to Bray town centre is too far for us," says Rosemary.

"Accessible taxis are way too expensive, except as a real treat. I used to carry the youngest in a backpack and push Jennifer's wheelchair with my other son walking alongside but I can't manage that anymore. What we really need to give us a break from being stuck at home is the ordinary bus service to be wheelchair accessible. I just want to be able to take my kids out to McDonald's and to play along the seafront during their summer holidays."

Isolation is one of the biggest challenges faced by people with disability, their families and carers. Economic, social and physical barriers continue to keep them marooned at home and unable to participate in ordinary life.

Holidays, even at their most modest, are a life-affirming pleasure very few can take for granted.