April 13, 2022, Tipperary Live: Tipperary mother sets up social media site to support parents of children with disabilities https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/home/789577/tipperary-mother-sets-up-social-media-site-to-support-parents-of-children-with-disabilities.html
A county Tipperary mother has set up a Facebook page to support parents encountering difficulties and delays securing services for their children with disabilities and special needs.
The Tipperary Parents Unite for Children’s Disability Services Facebook page has been set up by Edwina Morrissey McElhinney as a forum providing and sharing information to support families of children with disabilities.
Edwina, who is from the Cahir area, set up the page a few weeks ago because so many parents of children with disabilities are encountering difficulties and delays in getting their child’s disability assessed as well as securing health and education services….
She said her four-year-old son, who has autism, has been on a waiting list for 18 months to secure occupational therapy.
She is frustrated at the “pass the parcel” way she and other parents are treated by the HSE and Government departments when they are trying to get services like this for their children. Parents of children with disabilities she has talked to feel “downtrodden” at battling to get the services their child requires.
The constant pressure from this lack of support and having to fight for services really affects their health and relationships, she said….
He said one parent spoke of how their 21-year-old was waiting five years to get an appointment with a neurologist while others highlighted their long waits to get occupational therapy and speech and language therapy for their children….
