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