Annual Report 2005 - The National Disability Authority

National Disability Authority
Committees. Five lunch time briefings on Dementia and Older People, Child and
Adolescent, Mental Health Promotion, Forensic and Adult Mental Health. A sixth
briefing on Social Justice and Citizenship was postponed to 2006. This work has led to
ongoing contact between the NDA and colleagues in Northern Ireland.
National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA)
The NDA provided advice and assistance to NALA, to assist in the production of an
interactive CD, Simply Put. This is a tool developed to support bodies and individuals
in using plain English when writing and designing documents. This was launched in
November 2005 and represents an important development, particularly in light of the
requirements in section 28 of the Disability Act 2005.
European Contacts
During a visit to Brussels in November, an NDA delegation met with the President
of the Inter-Group on Disability and the European Disability Forum. The purpose of
this visit was information sharing, to profile the work of the NDA and to develop
relationships with colleagues working on the European disability agenda.
Disability in Europe Seminar
In order to promote awareness and dialogue about the disability agenda in Europe, the
NDA held a seminar on this topic in November. Keynote presentations were made
by Ms Wallis Goelen, Head of the Unit on the Integration of people with Disabilities,
European Commission and Ms Carlotta Besozzi, Director of the European Disability
Forum and People with Disabilities in Ireland.
Contacts with Sister Organisations in Britain, Northern Ireland
The NDA communicated with similar statutory bodies in the UK, the Equality
Commission of Northern Ireland and the Disability Rights Commission in England,
Scotland and Wales. An NDA delegation met with colleagues in the Disability Rights
Commission in London in November to share information on our organisations and
work programmes, as well as emerging national and international disability agendas.
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Continuing education and training of professions
NDA Conferences in 2005
Disability and Employment
The fourth annual NDA Disability Research Conference took place in the Great
Southern Hotel on 11 October on the theme of Disability and Employment – What
the Research Tells Us. Over 200 delegates attended the proceedings. Keynote speakers
included Professor John Martin from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development; Ilene Zeitzer of the US Disability Policy Solutions; Brenda Gannon,
Economic and Social Research Institute; Dr Donal Mc Ananey, Rehab, and Dr Richard
Wynne, Work Research Centre and Tony Tyrrell and Tom Ronayne, WRC Social and
Economic Consultants. There was also a presentation in relation to the NDA’s research
entitled Disability and Work. The conference also included parallel sessions with
submitted papers. The conference concluded with the announcement of this year’s
recipients of grants under the Research Promotion Scheme and the launch of the
NDA’s Guidelines on Ethics in Disability Research.