To add another perspective on this, here is the reality facing those of us with IRC funding/ studying a PhD and a disability (A thread).

My wheelchair friendly accommodation costs €800 a month, leaving me with €533 per month to cover the following: (1/?) https://twitter.com/shaunoboyle/status/1345322747883368449

- €133 PhD fees (covered for this year by @UCDMedicine, thanks to my supervisor)
- €75 Bills
- €63 Car Insurance
- €30 Medication
- €50 Transport costs
Leaving me with €182/month or ~€45/week to cover all my other expenses, including any emergencies that may arise (2/?)

I think it goes without saying that I don't get by very well on €45/week, so I often have to turn to my parents for support. Luckily, I can.

Without their support I don't know what I would have done, and unfortunately that's the situation a lot of disabled people are in. (3/?)

And bare in mind, I am one of the lucky ones - my disability doesn't bring about a lot of extra costs - my medication costs are minor, I don't require assistive technology, a specialised diet, and I rarely require additional healthcare etc etc....

But it's also worth considering why a postgraduate degree would be of particular importance to disabled ppl, aside from the fact that education is a basic right.

Only 26% of disabled Irish ppl are employed (compared to an EU average of 48%) (Country Report Ireland, 2019). (4/?)

And we are twice as likely live in poverty (European Disability Forum’s Human Rights Report, 2020).

It is reported that people with postgraduate education are more likely to be employed and to earn higher salaries, compared to those with an undergraduate degree (HEA, 2018).(5/?)

So it's not hard to work out why disabled people want to be better educated.

It provides us with the greatest opportunity to get out and stay out of poverty, and to help us cover the extra costs brought about by our disabilities. (6/?)

But this is what breaks my heart: Disabled people, despite representing 13.5% of the population (Irish Census, 2016), represent only 2.5% of postgraduate students (AHEAD 2018).

This means that a disabled person is over 5 times less likely to take up a postgraduate degree. (7/?)

There are many reasons that explain why this is the case, but cost is a massive one of them.

When I took up my PhD position, I lost my disability allowance, my public services card, and in a couple of years will lose my medical card. (8/?)

This is because the Dept. of Social Welfare considers me to be "employed", despite the fact that the IRC stipend is below minimum wage (~7.60/hour, compared to 10.20/hour in Jan 2021). (9/?)

So if you have costly disability, and you don't have external financial support, not only is this not enough to get by on, but the loss of these supports can be phenomenal..... (10/?)

There are other barriers to postgraduate education for disabled people, and @RathVivian knows far more about this than me, but this my experience, and as I say.....I am among the most fortunate disabled people in this country because I have people I can rely upon. (11/?)

But this is a massive issue, and it's one that is not going anywhere. I would love to see what @AnneRabbitte, @SimonHarrisTD, @LeoVaradkar would suggest to start tackling this issue. (12/12)

Side note: One of the main reasons my parents can afford to support me through my PhD is because I was able to self-fund my undergraduate and most of my masters degrees because of scholarships from @AIScholarships and @ucdadastracadmy (and savings from my Disability Allowance)

And while I am very grateful for these supports, we cannot continue to fund education for disabled people through scholarships - there are not enough to go around, and don't cover 100% of costs.

Side-side note: When a disabled person becomes employed, by and large, they stop being dependent on the state. So if the state wants to save money, getting those of us with a disability who can work to work, saves the state, and the taxpayer........