Advocacy is a means of empowering people by supporting them to assert their views and claim their entitlements and, where necessary, representing and negotiating on their behalf.
Assistive technology is any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to improve functional capabilities of people with disabilities.
Capacity means the ability to understand the nature and consequences of a decision in the context of available choices at the time the decision is to be made.
Community care and personal social services are services designed to enable people to remain living in their communities, especially when they have difficulties doing so because of illness, disability or age. People with disabilities are entitled to avail of the range of community care services. In many cases, they have priority in access to the services.
Disability, as defined in the Disability Act 2005, means a substantial restriction in the capacity of a person to carry out a profession, business or occupation in the State, or to participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment. People with a disability entitled to services in Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005 are those with a “substantial restriction” which is permanent or likely to be permanent, results in significant difficulty in communication, learning or mobility or in significantly disordered cognitive processes and requires that services be provided continually to the person whether or not a child, or, if the person is a child, that services be provided in early life to ameliorate the disability.
Early Intervention Team is a support service for children from birth to age six with childhood developmental delay or disabilities.
Educational psychologists are qualified teachers who have additional training as psychologists. Educational psychologists help children who find it difficult to learn to understand and communicate with others. They can assess your child's development and provide support and advice.
GPs (general practitioners) are family doctors who work in the community. They deal with your child's general health and can refer you on to clinics, hospitals and specialists when needed.
Habitual Residence Condition: Habitual residence means you have a proven close link to Ireland. If you have lived in Ireland all your life, you will probably have no difficulty showing that you satisfy the factors which indicate habitual residence. These factors are:
- Your main centre of interest, based on facts such as: - Whether you own or lease a home here, - Where your close family members live, - Whether you belong to social or professional associations here, and - Any other evidence or activities indicating a settled residence in Ireland.
- The length and continuity of your residence in Ireland or other parts of the Common Travel Area.
- The length of and reason for any absence from Ireland. For example, you can spend time on short holidays, studying or travelling outside of the Common Travel Area and still be regarded as habitually resident here.
- The nature and pattern of your employment, if any.
- Your future intention to live in Ireland as it appears from the evidence.
Intellectual disability is generally diagnosed when a person has greater than average difficulty in learning. A person is considered to have an intellectual disability when their general intellectual functioning is significantly below average, significant deficits exist in adaptive skills (or everyday life skills) and the condition is present from childhood (eighteen years or less). Different terms have been used over the years but intellectual disability or learning disability are the most common terms used.
Interdisciplinary team is a team of professionals representing different ields of expertise - for example paediatricians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, social workers, psychologists, and childcare staff. By co-ordinating their assessment of a child, an interdisciplinary team provides a comprehensive picture of the child's strengths and needs.
Learning support is the help given to children who may lag behind other children in school perhaps because of learning difficulties, behavioural problems or undiagnosed disability.
Learning support teachers give extra teaching to children who may have difficulty with the curriculum. Learning support is designed to help children with learning difficulties to succeed at school.
Local Health Offices are administrative centres for community health and personal social services. There are 32 around Ireland. Health centres deliver services directly to individuals - for example public health nurses are based in health centres.
Occupational therapists (OTs) help people who have a disability (physical, psychological or social) to live as independently as possible. They work with children to develop physical or learning skills, using special play equipment. OTs can give advice about modifications or adaptations to your home that will help your child move about as independently as possible.
Paediatricians are doctors who specialise in working with babies and young children.
Personal social services (see glossary)
Physiotherapists specialise in physical and motor development. They can assess your child and develop a plan that might include helping your child control their head movement, sit, crawl or walk. They can work with parents on exercises that can be done at home and can show parents how best to lift their child.
Reasonable accommodation is any action that helps a person with a disability avail of a service. Under equality legislation discrimination can occur if a provider or employer does not do all that is reasonable to accommodate the needs of a person with a disability (see also chapter 10).
Relevant tax year for social welfare purposes, is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim is made. So, for claims made in 2010, the relevant tax year is 2008.
Resource teachers give individual support to pupils with low incidence special needs, such as hearing impairment, visual impairment and autistic spectrum disorders.
Respite care refers to care for a person with a disability to allow their main carer to take a temporary break from caring.
Social workers work with individuals and groups experiencing social and emotional difficulties including people with disabilities. They may help you deal with practical issues such as your entitlement to services and they may also liaise with other professionals, such as psychologists, doctors, childcare workers and gardaí. They may also offer counselling and help facilitate support groups. In some areas families may be assigned a key worker. A key worker acts as a point of contact for your family and helps co-ordinate services from different areas, including health, education and social services.
Special educational needs is the term used to describe a child who needs more help than other children to participate in and benefit from education because of a disability.
Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) deal with applications for teaching and other supports for children with special educational needs (see also chapter 5).
Special needs assistants (SNAs) work with children who need non-teaching support perhaps because of a physical disability or behavioural difficulties. Pupils' needs could range from needing an assistant for a short period each week - for example, to help feed or change the pupil(s) or bring them to the toilet - to requiring a full-time assistant. SNAs may work with more than one child and can also work on a part-time basis depending on the needs of the school.
Special needs education means the educational arrangements that are in place for children with special educational needs. Special needs education is provided in mainstream settings as far as possible. Children who have been diagnosed with a disability may get special needs assistance from resource teachers and perhaps other specialists such as speech and language therapists or educational psychologists.
Speech and language therapists are health professionals who specialise in communication development and disorders and, sometimes, associated eating and swallowing difficulties.
The Citizens Information Board provides independent information, advice and advocacy on public and social services through citizensinformation.ie, the Citizens Information Phone Service and the network of Citizens Information Services. It is responsible for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service and provides advocacy services for people with disabilities. Entitlements for children with disabilities 2010 Head Office Ground Floor t +353 1 605 9000 George's Quay House f +353 1 605 9099 43 Townsend Street e info@ciboard.ie Dublin 2 www.citizensinformationboard.ie
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