Madam, – Congratulations to The Irish Timesfor continuing to highlight the needs of the vulnerable. It saddens me to read Carl O'Brien's report ("What happens now", Healthplus, June 16th) and the uncertain future facing Emmet Purcell, a young man with intellectual disability. It seems we have learned nothing.
Thankfully your Letters page allows advocates such as Dr Fintan Sheerin (June 15th) and David Egan (June 12th) voice their comment and support, in particular the possible solution of funds following the “user” and not the “service provider”.
As a father of a near teenager with intellectual disability one of the challenges for us, and perhaps a barometer of our parenting success or otherwise, will be to ensure our son doesn’t have to rely on us in the future. By “supporting” his choices as opposed to “providing” his choices we try to help him develop into an independently minded and confident adult with a contribution to make. Unfortunately, as Mr O’Brien highlighted in his report, as a country we are still reluctant to provide him with any choices at all and he must take what services he is given, which as we can see with Emmet Purcell, seems to be absolutely nothing.
It’s a terrifying thought for us as parents and one that will keep us awake many nights into the future. But imagine if Emmet got the funding directly? Would a customer-focused day service come knocking on his door looking for his business?
I know the economy is suffering, but surely any right-thinking number-cruncher can see merit in a service where funds are provided in a manner that promotes choice and therefore competition? Of course it has its faults, but I would suggest that such a system would obviously result in cost savings and increased standards as service providers would compete for customers.
However, the real success could be that my son and Emmet and the 25,613 (2007 National Intellectual Disability database) others like them in the country could be more independent and less institutionalised, requiring fewer supports from the taxpayer and living a life of their choosing. Surely it’s our choices that define us and everybody has a right to be an individual? Best of luck to Emmet, I hope we don’t desert him. – Yours, etc,