The Irish Wheelchair Association and other voluntary groups were advised to work together if they wanted to ensure that the recommendations in the report of the Commission for the Status of People with Disabilities are implemented.
Mr Robert Silverstein, the director of the Centre for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy at George Washington University in the US, the architect of the Americans with Disability Act, told members of the Wheelchair Association that it was important to motivate voluntary bodies so they worked together.
Addressing the meeting in Dublin, organised by the Irish Wheelchair Association, the US ambassador to Ireland, Ms Jean Kennedy Smith, said the publication of the commission's report earlier this week was historic. It had thrust into national importance the question of what Ireland should do to protect the rights of all its citizens.
"Not since arriving in Ireland have I witnessed such public attention towards this singular question. As all of you recognise, legislation for equal opportunity and access is long overdue: the time to enact it is now.