Member's statement: Disability Discrimination

Member's statement by Ms Sian Mulholland on 25 November 2024.

MLA

Ms Sian Mulholland

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

25 November 2024

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Disability Discrimination

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4674531

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The words that I am about to say are not mine. They are those of Sinéad, who is a Trussell service user from part of the group that launched the Trussell's 'Building blocks for a better future' report, on Thursday. I feel that they are important enough for the Chamber to hear fully.

"I have to begin by illuminating an uncomfortable truth: the fact is that people like me see our Government and state as an adversary instead of a source of support. The imbalance of power feels crushing. The majority of the systems that we have to interact with feel hostile to us. Each interaction can be a battle. People living with trauma are retraumatised, often unintentionally, by the system. Those systems we face seem purposely built to make it more difficult to access the support we require. The one thing that reducing access guarantees is that it is disadvantaging and potentially discriminating against the vulnerable, the ill and the disabled. According to a 2021 census, around one in four people are disabled. However, 61% of those who access a food bank in Northern Ireland identified as having a disability issue. That means that, already, vulnerable people are heavily over-represented at the sharpest end of poverty. Chronically ill and disabled people on ESA were told we would be migrated to universal credit in 2028. It was brought forward to 2024 by the UK Government. A date for that process to begin has not yet been given by our Government here. That letter hitting doorsteps will cause untold harm to already vulnerable people. We are not being given adequate notice to prepare. Living in financial hardship is tough enough, but it is not just financial costs that we have to deal with. Income inequality is deeply unfair, undignified and causes poorer outcomes for our people when it comes to child development, education, health, mental health and social outcomes. That is why Trussell's building blocks strategy to defeat hardship and poverty here in Northern Ireland is so important. It does not just look at the obvious cause: that is, having enough money to meet basic needs. It is also looking at the factors that can lead people into a life of poverty. Being poor should be enough to contend with. Being poor takes a lot of time and energy — and money, ironically enough. We are more likely to have adverse life experiences if we are poor, to have poorer health outcomes and lower life expectancy. The reduction of face-to-face interactions, replaced by phone calls and journals, means that it is easier to dehumanise and to feel dehumanised. Again, it feels like this is by design rather than a coincidence. In the face of more and more people coming forward with similar experiences, we are reminded by successive Governments just how insignificant we are and inconsequential dealing with poverty is to them. Every single year that we go without an anti-poverty strategy, we are being told that we do not matter. Whilst I am not naive enough to think it is straightforward or easy, we have waited long enough for the release and implementation of a fully-funded strategy. The reality is that poverty is a political choice."

536 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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