Local Disability Services managers ‘are like dictators’ according to a Tipperary parent.
Mark Darmody from Ardfinnan is the father to two autistic sons and along with his daughter Cara has been campaigning to end the discrimination against those with a disability across the county and Ireland.
He told Tipp Today it’s a scandal that there are 1,300 children waiting for a first phone call from the HSE in South Tipperary.
He says that the local service manager controls who gets support and who doesn’t and that the current structure makes appealing their decisions pointless.
“You have a local Disability Services manager – they’re like dictators. They decide whether your child gets the services or not. There’s no right of complaint, of appeal or anything like that.
“It’s just the one person in every area decides and when they don’t you make your complaint to the HSE. If you complain to the Director of the HSE in Dublin they send the complaint down to the area that you’re in so it’s the people over the area that are investigating.”
He says local disability services managers have told him they receive ‘positive feedback’, however, he rejects this saying have spoken with local parents trying to access help this is something he has ‘never herd.’
He told Tipp Today that no one has answers and he will continue to campaign until there is basic accountability.
“It’s discrimination across the board. If you have a disability or any issue whatsoever in this country I’m sorry to say it you get treated like dirt. We need to call that out – it is discrimination.
“Money has to be….I think everyone accepts that if our health system was right. As they say if you have your health, you have your wealth and there’s a lot of truth to that. I’d rather have less money but know that our health is guaranteed.”
