In contrast, they see a community that refuses to evolve, that INSISTS that they will not change their way of life no matter what. All well and good, but this community lives alongside the settled community and if they don't change but the settled does, then they're not going to 'fit' any more.
First of all, they have changed and evolved, but that would not be apparent to a society that first started noticing them in any numbers until the 1950s at the earliest. Part of the perception of lack of change and quixotic insistence on clinging to old ways comes from a lack of knowledge of how far behind Travellers are coming from compared to the rest of society, which is itself hurtling forward at warp speed. They have never 'fitted', even back when they mostly lived in desperately poor rural Ireland.
They now send their children to school, albeit for fewer years than optimal. In the very recent past, Traveller children did not go near schools. An aunt of mine in rural Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s used to instruct children in the rudiments of catechism in preparation for First Communion and Confirmation. The children were illiterate and so were their parents. Lessons were completely oral. (Their recall was tremendous, according to my aunt.) Travellers have an interest in pursuing secondary education but still see no value in the more academic side of what schools offer. English Lit has little appeal for them.
Practical/vocational courses have a lot more perceived value. An old school friend of mine married a Traveller who was a bank manager. He had been encouraged to go to school and his family perceived maths as a useful skill.
They tend not to do half as much travelling as they did before. Ironic to see this used as a cheap jibe here. The reason they do not travel as much is that they remain in one place for the school year when allowed by local residents/councils, etc.
Occupation-wise, they used to do sasonal agricultural work, tinsmithing, dealing in horses, making and hawking crafts -- all occupations that have gone the way of the donkey cart. They have turned to concrete and paving, roofing, landscaping and general unskilled building occupations.
The use of the great outdoors as a toilet is not their preferred means of toileting. They are perfectly willing to use toilets on sites, and do so until the toilets become predictably unusable given the number of people the facilities are supposed to accommodate. The reason not to have a toilet in a caravan or trailer is because of notions as to what constitutes cleanliness that are certainly different from settled society. They have ideas on cleanliness that are akin to kosher rules. But bear in mind that settled society only very recently re-embraced the toilet after thousands of years of Traveller-like behaviour. It is very unpleasant, just as much so for Travellers as for anyone else, to poo in a field or in the bushes, and not a bit nice for women to have to do their business essentially in public. It is not something they choose but you can't just cross your legs until you find some premises willing to let you use the toilet.
They are incredibly flexible. That has been the secret of their survival in a country that exported millions of its own people over the last 170 years because the land just couldn't support them and the economy was permanently set at stagnant.
They have banded together politically to press their case in the political/policy sphere, having had absolutely no cohesion in the political sense heretofore. This has been forced on them by the trend of policy since the 1960s, and is perhaps a double edged sword as far as government and policy-makers are concerned. But it is an evolution. Next step? I predict many of them will develop an interest in getting a legal education. Be careful what you wish for.