Disability

The Department of Justice has become the first Irish government department to roll-out the 'JAM card' initiative to support people with a hidden disability or communication barrier. The 'Just A Minute' (JAM) card is an initiative of the social enterprise NOW Group and allows a user to signal they ne

Ireland is to accede to the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the government has announced. The Optional Protocol supplements the Convention — which Ireland signed in 2007 and ratified in 2018 — by establishing additio

A former nursing student with a cancer diagnosis has settled a disability discrimination case against Queen’s University Belfast for £25,000. Natasha Bradshaw, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2019, was supported in bringing the case by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

The first phase of a commission of investigation established following allegations of abuse involving an intellectually disabled woman known by the pseudonym 'Grace' has finally been completed. Marjorie Farrelly SC was appointed in 2017 to chair the investigation into the care and protection of 'Gra

A sales representative for construction industry supplier Haldane Fisher has settled a disability discrimination case for £20,000 with support from the Equality Commissioner for Northern Ireland. The case brought by Mark Graham, who worked for the business for 28 years, was settled through med

Law student Alannah Murray criticises the State's record on vindicating disabled children's right to education. The only positive obligation on the State is to provide free primary education, per the decision in TD v. Minister for Education, as outlined in Article 42.4 of the Constitution. It was re

A deaf woman who was effectively refused access to a public service with the assistance of an Irish Sign Language interpreter has settled a disability discrimination claim with the assistance of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The woman attempted to access the service over the teleph

Digital exam papers will be made available to Junior Certificate students with additional needs following a legal challenge taken by a student with a severe visual impairment, assisted by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The rights body acknowledged the work of Community Law & Med

Plans to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) are moving forward with the establishment of a new inter-departmental group. The new group will include all relevant government departments as well as the Office of the Attorney General, an

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has secured a £50,000 settlement with no admission of liability for a hearing-impaired man who took a disability discrimination case against the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). The claimant, Christopher Morrow, work

Law student Alannah Murray offers a critical perspective on the upcoming referendum on 'care'. “The State recognises that the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them, gives to Society a support without which the common good cannot b

A blind man who made a complaint of disability discrimination against his bank has secured a settlement with legal assistance from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The man experienced ongoing difficulties in using the online banking services of a high-street bank. His first difficulty

The wording of the government's proposed constitutional amendments on family and care may remove "offensive" references to women but risk introducing new "harmful stereotypes" about disabled people, an influential legal rights group has warned. FLAC has written to the Taoiseach, the equality ministe

Sofiya Kalinova has become the first Deaf person to qualify as a barrister in Ireland and the first to practice law in Irish Sign Language (ISL). A graduate of University College Dublin and the King's Inns, Ms Kalinova was called to the Bar by Chief Justice Donal O'Donnell yesterday.

A disability discrimination case brought against a Belfast primary school with support from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has been settled without admission of liability. The parents of Violet Heasley, who lives with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), brought a case again