A Review of Approaches Used to Attain Societal Participation and Inclusion for Disabled People by Creating More Liveable Communities

This research explores how to develop ‘liveable’ (accessible) communities where disabled people are fully included and there are no barriers to participation. The research is contextualised with reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which identifies the participation of Disabled Persons' Organisations, locally and nationally, as crucial to attaining full societal participation and inclusion.

The research entailed:

  • Scoping the literature on approaches to participation and inclusion including co-production; Universal Design; community development; the utilisation of technology; national and local policies on accessible transport, housing, public services, education, training and employment
  • Interviewing stakeholders and conducting three roundtable discussions with stakeholders working or involved in in local development, social inclusion and community development or with lived experience
  • Using learning from our annual listening session with disabled people on improving participation and inclusion through creating liveable communities


Local Area Coordination: NDA Briefing Paper

We developed a briefing paper on Local Area Coordination which draws on the strengths, skills and abilities of local individuals, families and communities to support people with disabilities.

Evaluations of LAC programmes have demonstrated positive outcomes including:

  • Increased community and family capacity
  • Increased supportive relationships/circles of support
  • Reduced demand for services, improved access to relevant and timely information and cost savings

The Dynamics of Disability and Social Inclusion

We, along with the Equality Authority funded this 2006 study conducted by the ESRI. The Dynamics of Disability and Social Inclusion study examined how onset of a disability or chronic illness affected different aspects of social inclusion.

When the impact of other factors such as age, gender or education level were factored out, onset of a disability:

  • Reduced the probability of being in work, by 20 percentage points
  • Increased the probability of being at risk of poverty by 7 percentage points
  • Reduced household income by 15%

The research was based on data for a group of 2,700 adults who participated in the Living in Ireland Survey in each year from 1995 to 2001.