Annual Report 2005 - The National Disability Authority

National Disability Authority
Foreword by Chairperson
The year 2005 was a landmark year
for people with disabilities, seeing
the enactment of the Disability Act,
2005, the lynchpin of the National
Disability Strategy. This has a great
impact on the arena in which the
Authority operates and creates new
challenges and opportunities for
the Authority. This enactment, and
the ongoing work by Government
Departments in drafting Sectoral
Plans under that Act, provided an
important frame for the NDA’s work
during 2005.
The Act will establish a new system for statutory assessment of individual health
service needs, and the provision of service statements setting out the services that will
be provided, with provision for redress where there is failure to provide these. The
Act also requires every public sector body to ensure that its premises, services and
information are accessible to people with disabilities, and that procurement practices
are also designed to ensure the provision of accessible goods and services.
Importantly, the Disability Act gives a statutory underpinning to the principle of
mainstreaming, where public service bodies have to ensure that people with disabilities
can access their mainstream public services and, where practicable, provide assistance
to individuals to make this a reality. The Act also places the employment target for
people with disabilities in the public service on a statutory footing.
For the National Disability Authority, the Act means new functions, which include the
preparation of statutory Codes of Practice for accessible public buildings and services;
monitoring compliance by public bodies with the statutory employment target, and
establishing and operating a Centre of Excellence in Universal Design.