The Gazette 1981

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INCORPORATED LAW SOCIETY OF IRELAND GAZETTE
Vol. 75, No. 10. December 1981
In this issue Comment . . .
Comment 235
The European Convention on Human
Rights and the 'Closed Shop' 237
Practice Note: Use of Vendor and
Purchaser Act Summons Procedure 241
Minutes of Annual General Meeting 243
Commission Consultative des Barreaux
de la Communauté Européenne 247
Instant Dismissal Without Observing
Natural Justice Unconstitutional ... 248
Professional Information 255
Executive Editor: Mary Buckley
Editorial Board: Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman
John F. Buckley
Gary V. Byrne
William Earley
Michael V. O'Mahony
Maxwell Sweeney
Advertising: Liam Ó hOisin, Telephone 305236
The views expressed in this publication, save where other-
wise indicated, are the views of the contributors and
not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society.
Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.
. . . Watch your language
AS the International Year of Disabled Persons draws
to a close, differing views are being expressed as to
its success. It is true that none could claim that there has
been a revolutionary improvement in the position of
disabled persons in Irish society, but no such
improvement could realistically be expected in such a
short time.
If, on the other hand, the year has led to a change in
attitudes among hitherto unaffected and uncaring sections
of our community, it will have achieved much. One
positive example of such change would be a reduction in
the use of those ugly phrases which are in such common
use either to describe disabled people or to compare them
with "normal" persons.
What is most depressing is that our legislators, to whom
the community is entitled to look for a lead in such
matters, and our Department of Health have so recently
combined in the perpetuation of a misdescription so
fundamental as to put in doubt their depth of
understanding of the position. The Mental Health Act of
1980 still makes no distinction between those who are
mentally handicapped and those who are mentally
disturbed. Many people who are mentally handicapped are
not mentally disturbed.
The Royal Society for Mentally Handicapped Children
and Adults in Britain has been pressing for many years for
the removal of mental handicap from the comparable
English legislation, the Mental Health Act, and there are
signs that in a proposed Bill the British Government is to
recognise the distinction between the two groups. It is
highly unsatisfactory, to say the least, that in the
Republic of Ireland, in order to obtain benefits
or hospitalisation, a mentally handicapped person must be
treated as a mentally disturbed person. There are
worrying suggestions that, as a result of the classification
of mentally handicapped persons as mentally ill for the
purposes of the Mental Health Act, such persons may
be detained or subjected to treatment which is
not appropriate to mere mental handicap.
The least our legislators should do in 1982, to show
that the year of disabled persons has had a lasting impact,
would be to pass legislation dealing sensibly with the
position of the mentally disabled as a category of persons
different and distinct from those who are mentally
disturbed. •
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