ILMI Consultations to respond to the Initial State report to the UNCRPD

The Irish State has developed its initial draft report to the UNCRPD. The report is 62 pages long and can be read here: https://www.gov.ie/…/dafb9-draft-initial-report-under…/

The State is asking individuals and organisations to make submissions into its first report by 9th April 2021.

As a grassroots DPO (Disabled Persons Organisation) we are committed to ensuring all our policy work is informed by the lived experience of disabled people across the country.

To build a strong ILMI submission to the State report, we are creating a series of facilitated consultation spaces. These consultation spaces will be held thematically. The spaces will look at specific aspects of the UNCRPD and make recommendations based on the State report and people’s lived experience.

Disabled activists who are interested in having their voices heard should note the themes for consultation and the dates and times below.

ILMI will send out collated information in advance of each discussion to each disabled activist who has registered: what the Article says under the UNCRPD, what the State Response says and key analysis from an ILMI perspective.

Each of these ILMI discussions will NOT be about reviewing, questioning or contesting the entire content of the state draft. Instead the process will be used to identify and build a strong case for addressing key areas for improvement. The agenda and questions will be sent out in advance to people who have registered in order to focus discussions to work towards information that can feed directly into the ILMI report.

Whereby disabled activists are unable to attend discussions, inputs via email will be accepted until March 19th.

The following consultations will take place:

15th February 5pm: Children and young Disabled People (article 7)

16th February 7pm: Work and Employment (article 27)

18th February 6pm: Women and Disability (article 6)

19th February 10:30am Disabled people and Education (article 24)

23rd February 3pm: Independent Living (article 19)

24th February 7pm: Access, mobility and access to information (articles 9, 20 and 21)

26th February 10:30am: Disabled people and health (article 25)

4th March 12noon: Disabled people and family life (article 23)

11th March 11am: Participation of disabled people in political life (articles 4 and 29)

If you need to know more about the UNCRPD, the Irish Human Rights Equality Commission (IHREC) have produced a short video with ISL which explains how it works. You can view the video here: https://vimeo.com/292334901

The DPO Coalition (of which ILMI is a member) held a webinar on the 27th January and the inputs explain what the CRPD is and how people can get involved. You can view the video here: https://vimeo.com/508855589

Spaces for each of these are limited in order that they can be facilitated and notes taken to feed into the ILMI report. To register for any of the above, email: info@ilmi.ie and indicate your preference for which thematic consultation you would like to attend.

If you wish to attend more than one consultation, you must register separately. Given that spaces are limited and in order to be fair and promote participation of as many people as possible, it is not possible to register for more than 3 consultations per person.

If you want to submit some ideas on the above themes or other issues relating to the initial State report to feed into the ILMI report, email: jamescawley@ilmi.ie before March 19th.