MORE than 6,000 people with disabilities have voted in elections to the Council for the Status of People with Disabilities, which will be launched in January.
The unprecedented level of participation will make the new, official body the country's most representative voice for disabled people.
Its creation was recommended by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, which is due to present its final report to the Minister for Equality and Law Reform, Mr Taylor, later this month.
More than 100 county representatives to the new council have already been elected, and yesterday saw voting for regional representatives for the Dublin region.
The council will be a permanent body funded by the Government. It has been carefully structured so that the majority of its members will be people with disabilities. This is significant, in that few organisations which provide services for disabled people have such people in positions of authority.
Similarly, the better paid jobs in disability organisations nearly always go to able bodied people.