Member's statement: World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day
Member's statement by Ms Sian Mulholland on .
- MLA
- Ms Sian Mulholland
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5549113
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Today is World Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Day, and I want to speak about my constituent Mark. I have known him for quite some time, and he has campaigned about IBD issues in Northern Ireland for almost 20 years. For Mark and thousands of others, IBD is not something that you can fix by popping a pill from the medicine cabinet. It is not just a dodgy tummy or a bout of diarrhoea. It shapes your entire day and night: whether you can leave the house, work, sleep, feel safe going somewhere new or will be believed when you say that you are ill. Mark told me about running to the bathroom 30 or 40 times a day. He talked about the lifelong cycle of appointments, medication, tests and colonoscopies. He talked about the impact beyond his bowel: liver disease, arthritis, eye problems, mouth ulcers, skin problems, weak teeth, osteoporosis, constant pain and the effects of losing blood over and over again. That is a lot for one person to carry, and it is made so much harder because so much of it is hidden. The general public simply do not see the fatigue. Mark described it as being not just tired but completely exhausted while not being able to sleep because of pain or having to go back and forward to the bathroom through the night. They do not see the fear of a flare starting and not being able to get help quickly enough. There is simply no respite. Sadly, Mark's story is not unusual. A report by IBD UK found that more than 17,000 people in Northern Ireland live with Crohn's disease or colitis — around one in 114 people. It also shows how timely care matters. Some 50% of people waited more than four weeks, after speaking to a primary care practitioner, to be referred to a specialist.
Our constituents are needlessly sitting at home — bent double in pain, wrapped around a toilet, bleeding, exhausted, frightened — and waiting. When a flare starts, quick support can make the difference between managing it at home and ending up in crisis. Mark also raised with me the lack of psychological support linked to IBD clinics. The IBD standards recognise that patients should be assessed for mental health, fatigue and other symptoms beyond the gut, yet only 19% of people with IBD in Northern Ireland said that they had been asked about their mental health. IBD is a hidden and fluctuating disability. Mark has been challenged for using accessible toilets and a blue badge, because he does not look disabled, which my father, who, for most of my life, had Crohn's disease and a colostomy also experienced. That lack of understanding can follow people into the personal independence payment (PIP) system, where scoring often fails to capture urgent toilet needs, pain, fatigue, blood loss, side effects and the fear of leaving the house. People who are already exhausted by illness should not have to keep proving that they are struggling. On IBD day, I thank Mark not just for sharing his story with me but for always showing up and fighting to use his experience to make things better for others.
533 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.83).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.83 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:41 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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