Fianna Fáil Disability Network
About
About
The Fianna Fáil Disability Network campaigns for equal rights for disabled people. The network was founded by Sinéad Lucey Brennan and co-founded by Dion Davis and Tory McGlynn, and is made up of like-minded members with the aim of bridging the gap between disability policies, resources, and facilities across multiple areas in society – transport, social protection, education, employment, housing, and health – that are not currently in place for persons with disabilities. Fianna Fáil was the first party to prioritise disability policies and legislation to promote the rights of disabled people in our society which aligns with our democratic republican values of fostering equality and inclusion in everyday life.
Aims and Objectives
Aims & Objectives:
- Education & Awareness: Recognising and understanding the ongoing challenges for people living with physical, intellectual and invisible disabilities and their families locally and nationally
- Promote Member Engagement: Establishing an open and shared forum to collaborate on ideas and suggestions by engaging our existing members to hear their voice and hear both lived experiences and fresh thinking on the future of disability
- Equity for Disabled People: Leveraging the current disability and equality policies and practices and working to formulate further disability and equality policy, recognising disability and equality as core tenets of republican values and ensure equity through promoting equal access to policy making, events, campaigns and leadership opportunities
The Network’s Role
The Network’s Role:
- Events – Organise in-person and online networking events and events to raise awareness on both physical and invisible disabilities.
- Training & Development – Aim to provide training and development to existing and aspiring elected representatives at local, national and European level on better ways to embed disability in everyday policies, engagements and work.
- Network with external organisations – Work with external organisations and Disabled Persons’ Organisations for greater input into policy formation and how the party can continue to be at the forefront of disability.
- Leadership – Encourage people with disabilities to put themselves forward for leadership positions within the general party organisation and for selection as area representatives and election candidates.
Membership and Structure
Membership and Structure
While the Disability Network will provide significant extra supports for disabled people, the promotion of disability equality is the responsibility of all units of the organisation. All units must play their part in securing greater equality independent of the Disability Network.
Every CDC should strive to ensure their meetings are disability friendly within proposed guidelines and should avail of the opportunity to invite non-members, such as disability campaigners, activists or people involved in local community groups, to attend meetings.
The Disability Network will also run regular regional and national events.
Membership and Structure
Policy and Campaigns:
- Sharing Ideas and Collaboration – Give people within the party the opportunity to come together to express their views, collaborate and share ideas and develop their own support networks at party level to maintain engagement
- Policy – The Fianna Fáil Disability Network has been pivotal in the development of policy surrounding the party's disability portfolio, providing recommendations for party and government disability policy formation
- Campaign Readiness – Give members and candidates the infrastructure needed to design campaigns that reflect the needs of their disability and build campaigns that speak to their community contribution and how they promote disability in the community as a member of Fianna Fáil
Aims and Objectives
The Future of Disability
Connectivity, Visibility, Recognition &
Access for All 2023 & Beyond
- This discussion document shows how bringing together the voices and ideas of our members, of advocates, of disability service providers and organisations to support furthering disability policy is a worthwhile exercise that can lead to new, diverse and innovative policy ideas.
- Fianna Fáil in Government is committed to improving the lives of people with a disability and to providing services and support for people with disabilities, which will empower them to live their lives and provide greater independence in accessing the services they choose.
- This paper rightly highlights that disability cannot and should not be siloed into one Department and that it is the responsibility of every Government Department to ensure that disability inclusion is at the heart of policy formulation and decision making.
