The National Disability Authority worked in 2010 to offer advice and guidance towards advancing the inclusion of people with disabilities. This was done against a backdrop of economic recession, significant difficulties in the public finances and more restricted funding to progress the disability agenda.
The National Disability Authority actively participated on different policy review teams, as well as providing ongoing policy analysis and advice. There are important linkages between different policy developments across employment, housing, disability services, for example, and the National Disability Authority's advice and input addressed how these different policy developments could be developed to form an effective, joined-up and coherent suite of national policies.
Significant work was undertaken to guide the Department of Health and Children's Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services, in the context of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which promotes inclusion, independence and living in the community. To inform this work, the National Disability Authority researched the system of disability supports and services in six jurisdictions and drew together the learning.
Another notable area of research was the completion of the third in a series of publications on pregnancy childbirth and early motherhood for mothers with disabilities, focusing on the experiences of women of the Irish health system.
The National Disability Authority's current and future work in research and policy was strengthened by the publication of the National Disability Survey, Volume 2 (Central Statistics Office) in January 2010. It contained a wealth of information on all aspects of the lives of people with disabilities.
The National Disability Authority's Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, in its role as the secretariat for 2010, hosted the AGM of the European Design for All eAccessibility Network that coincided with its second, successful 24 Hour Design Challenge.
The year also marked the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the National Disability Authority. The launch of the National Disability Authority in June 2000 was the occasion where the Government officially announced its adoption of the policy of mainstreaming; in other words the public service would provide services to people with disabilities as an integral part of their mainstream remit. The National Disability Authority has played a significant role in supporting the achievement of mainstreaming and in advising on policy over the last decade.
This has been a decade that has seen a number of significant policy milestones:
In that time, the National Disability Authority has worked to fulfil its remit. It has developed standards and codes of practice. It has fulfilled its statutory obligations under the National Disability Act 1999 and the Disability Act 2005. It has guided and advised those Government Departments that are required to have a statutory Sectoral Plan for people with disabilities. The National Disability Authority has worked towards the full inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream society through the advice and guidance it has provided under the framework of the National Disability Strategy and through its input into the various strategic policy developments across the disability care services, transport, and housing, for