A man who is bound to a wheelchair after a mountain biking accident is left with “uncertainty about the future” as he is
‘If my disability can’t be taken away, then they shouldn’t take my allowance away’
A man who is bound to a wheelchair after a mountain biking accident is left with “uncertainty about the future” as he is not eligible for disability allowance anymore.
“If my disability can’t be taken away, then they shouldn’t take my allowance away either,” said Clondalkin man Eoghan Gorman (26), who now lives in Lucan with his partner Saoirse.
Because of what Saoirse earns, which is above the threshold of €386 per week, he has been recently informed by the Department of Social Protection that he is no longer eligible for disability allowance.
“I feel let down, disregarded by the Government and the state. That is her money, her life. I lost my financial independence.”
Eoghan used the disability allowance payment he started getting after his accident in 2021 to keep buying things for himself but more importantly to pay for physiotherapy that is not covered from public healthcare.
“I feel like whoever makes these regulations doesn’t understand the life of a person with a disability. This decision cannot be justified.
“Also, every payment has increased in the country due to cost of living, from minimum wage to allowances, while thresholds for mean tests have remained the same.
“It would be impossible to live according to those means today.
“I don’t think that the disability allowance should be related to means and income anyway. It should be based on the kind of disability you have,” he added.
The fall from his bike in the Dublin Mountains four years ago fractured Eoghan’s C3 vertebrae on his spine causing life-altering injuries.
It left Eoghan paralysed from the neck down and he has only been able to come home last July.
After spending the first months in hospital, where he was unable to breathe independently and was placed on a ventilator, he then spent a further two and a half years in the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
Just before the accident, he had completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker with Rathcoole-based Kilmmek Furniture and had left home to move in with his partner.
A dedicated sportsman, he represented Ireland in numerous taekwondo competitions and at the World Kickboxing Championships in 2016.
While he is known to be able to carry on with a fighting and positive spirit, the restrictions he’s now been imposed with are taking a toll on him.
“I shouldn’t depend on my girlfriend or parents to live. My independence as a person is gone.”
While Eoghan and Saoirse’s appeals to the Department’s decision have been rejected, he said that they will submit more as it’s the only thing they can do.
The couple also considered other types of payments available to people with lifelong disabilities, but they are all just as subject to thresholds and means tests.
If Eoghan was to live on his own to proof eligibility for the allowance, he would still be requiring 24/7 care, which would cost Saoirse and Eoghan’s family a lot more than what it costs to provide him with a disability allowance.
