Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
“DISABLED PERSONS WITH reduced mobility have the same right as all other citizens to free movement, freedom of choice and non-discrimination. This applies to air travel as to other areas of life.” These were the words written by Equality Officer Orlaith Mannion in her recent report on a case of discrimination on grounds of disability.
Of course I agree, as I am the woman who was at the centre of this discrimination.
When I became ill with the condition ME thirteen years ago, I saw my life very rapidly change from that of an able-bodied woman to one who needed full-time care. One of the hardest things I had to deal with was relinquishing my independence. A hard pill to swallow when all of the sudden you have to ask for help with every single action – from opening a new tube of toothpaste, to having one’s breakfast made, and to be able to go outside your own front door.
For this last action, mobility aids became a necessity. Yet, when my first wheelchair arrived I was not able look at it. I was the one who should be pushing a chair, having been trained as a nurse; I wasn’t destined to sit in one. I avoided the room where it was stored and only agreed to a spin in the chair during the hours of dusk, away from town. However I had to agree to these wheels in the end. So long as I had a pusher – a ‘mobiliser’ – it meant that I would not be confined to my home for ever.
Being seated in a wheelchair changes one’s perspective of life. Literally. Suddenly your view is at a child’s level. With the result that people talk down at you. Literally. It seems that if you are being pushed in a wheelchair, you must have something wrong with your brain, not your body.
I remember a few incidents from those early years. I was wheeled into a shopping centre, which was celebrating its second birthday. A ‘pirate’ ran up to me and was about to give me a kiss and a handful of sweets. I pushed him, with all my strength, out of my face.
A few weeks later, my ‘mobiliser’ was asked: “what’s wrong with the little one?” I reckon that the questioning man and myself were close in age, both in our forties.
Advertisement
Handing money over to a cashier, without fail, the change would be handed over to the person behind the chair. Why?
‘People laughed in my face’
My ever-growing quest for true independence brought me to the decision to purchase a mobility scooter. With this aid, my world opened up for me again as I was able to leave the house when energy allowed, not just when I had someone to push my wheelchair. Looks and comments did not stop. They just changed. People sometimes laughed in my face. One bonus is that being without a ‘mobiliser’ I was able to pay for my groceries and get the change into my own hands.
However, life on wheels is not without its obstacles. There is no transport in my rural area which I can use. In my town there are two banks. Both have large steps into the building. Thank goodness I have some use of my legs and am able to get off my scooter and walk into the bank with the help of a walking stick. The credit union has the same architectural challenges. Footpaths have been upgraded, but the levels of the curbs are now too high. Some have been lowered after a meeting with the council. There might be a bathroom for the disabled in a café, but it is impossible to get inside the door due to the high steps into the building, and if you get in, there are most likely too many tables and chairs to get through the space.
I remember visiting a restaurant situated on the first floor. There was an elevator, and a small floor-lift allowing a wheelchair user to combat the few steps into the restaurant itself. I was very pleased, until I went to visit the ‘disabled’ bathroom. Indeed it was disabled. All the cleaning gear was stored in the large bathroom.
‘People get angry’
We all know the way people abuse the parking disc, which allows people with a disability to park in designated areas. Some seem to borrow their ‘granny’s’ disc, or park in designated areas while the disabled person is not present. When confronted these drivers get angry. Very angry. Some tell me that they have a disabled child – at home – others that “they’ll only be a minute”. Other people park their cars on the sidewalk, leaving no other option than to risk one’s life and continue your journey on the busy main road.
I am aware that people are not thinking about this type of challenge – you only become aware when you’re disabled yourself. With that thought in mind, I would like to propose a national day of disability awareness. On that day local politicians, shop and café owners and teenagers will be given a task to complete in the towns and cities of Ireland. All are disabled for a day: be it blind, seated in a wheelchair or suffering from hearing loss. The tasks they would be given could range from getting the groceries to going to the bank; going for coffee and using the bathroom; visiting a gallery, etc. Maybe, just maybe, this will open people’s eyes and make our country a place where a “disabled person and persons with reduced mobility have the same right as all other citizens to free movement, freedom of choice and non-discrimination”.
That will be the day!
Corina Duyn is an author and artist living in Lismore Co Waterford. Her work is informed by nature and living life in the slow lane. See corinaduyn.com for more.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Surprise surprise, another one of our bird species is on its way out. Our in government green party say they pride themselves on being all about our planet and its biodiversity, yet it sits on its hands as badly need funding is needed for several projects to save endangered species. The Hen Harrier, Corncrake and Curlew will all go the way of the Corn Bunting. Its sad to think that these birds will disappear from the summer chorus in Ireland due to ignorance.
So forestry is driving up the numbers of predators….. It is definitely also driving up the numbers of wild deer across the country to insane levels. It also pollutes our rivers and lakes….. why is Coillte still operating this way? MONEY
The the cost of building roads for access and removal of harvested stock exceeds any profiteering, so Coillte are just another quango… The construction of roads also fragment the habitat….. Official Ireland is a joke
Not surprised, never any urgency to protect our wildlife, generally very poor attuide to our environment and wildlife here. Barely any left at this rate in general. Hope these birds do get support to help maintain population
Ireland needs 23 beds for eating disorders - but seven years on, there's still no sign of them
Paul O'Donoghue
9 hrs ago
9.8k
36
Catholic Church
Vatican says Pope Francis 'rested well all night' in hospital, after 'slight improvement' in condition
Updated
1 hr ago
4.5k
8
Murder Investigation
American mother drops newborn to death from Paris hotel window
19 hrs ago
51.1k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say