Research and Data

Disability-related research and data issues were raised in eight submissions (NDA; NFVSP; Disability Unit, DoH; TCAID; Leap; ARA; IDS; and Aontas).

The NDA advised on a number of disability-specific research projects, to be included in the DCEDIY SoS, including progressing ongoing research on best practice in the provision of inclusive school age childcare services; the continuation of the child-specific research programme exploring “what helps to protect children in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty;” and that children with disabilities are specifically included in this research. The NDA also advised that the Department continue its commitment to the Growing Up in Ireland study.

The IDS, in their submission, recommended that the Department of Education research “the impact of primary and secondary curriculum taught to Deaf children primarily through English rather than ISL”.

In terms of the collection and use of data on people with disabilities, the Disability Unit, DoH suggested that the DCEDIY “enhance the provision of information and data to inform policy, planning, and monitoring of outcomes” in order to support the delivery of:

…person-centred services that enable people with disabilities to live selfdirected and fulfilling lives in line with the disability reform programme ‘Transforming Lives’.

The ARA noted that “recordkeeping is… very significant for children and young people with disabilities and their families. These records should “demonstrate interactions with professionals and services that can affirm and support their memories and their sense of who they are”.

The NDA included a recommendation that the Department include a commitment to continuing to develop “its body of disability-disaggregated data” and to “make that data available on its statistical database in an accessible format”.

In terms of older adults, the NFVSP recommended that the DCEDIY SoS commit to examining evidence relating to “the changing needs of older adults with disabilities,” including “the wideranging findings” of the Intellectual Disability Supplement to the Irish longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA) research. The TCAIDechoed this recommendation, and noted that they are committed to providing evidence on the “physical and social determinants of health and wellbeing” from the IDS-TILDA” and engaging in discussions on the research and data in this regard.