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'My classmates are twice as likely to get a job as I am when I graduate'

A new campaign highlights the challenges faced by people with disabilities.

“I LOVE being a student but the facts are that when I graduate my classmates are twice as likely to get a job as I am.”

So says Joanne Chester, an NUI Maynooth student who has been deaf since birth.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

The Waterford native says she has struggled to access adequate supports and guidance for much of her time in education.

Discrimination against deaf people, including the lack of legal recognition for the Irish sign language, means she continues to be worried about her future.

Chester is one of four people featured in a new video from the Disability Federation of Ireland calling attention to the inequality faced by voters with disabilities.

She is joined by Owen Columb, who acquired a spinal injury in his early 20s.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

“After a road traffic accident, I lost my independence,” he says.

My only option was to live in a care home. That was 1994.
Today, little has changed for people in my situation.

Joan Bradley, who also speaks in the video, lives with the late effects of polio.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

Bradley is one of many people who suffered from the paralysing disease as a child before experiencing symptoms of the original polio again in middle age.

“I live a very active life but every week my disability costs me money,” she says.

I have to meet these extra costs myself.

Davy O’Meara is a young man who experienced mental health difficulties in the past.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

“I’m doing great now but I know what it’s like to not feel OK and not know where to turn,” he says.

Quality services can be the difference between living and giving up.

Des Kenny is denied a secret ballot because he is blind.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

“Everyone has a secret ballot. I don’t,” he says.

The technology exists but we don’t use it in Ireland.

Joe Feeley has a learning disability and receives support from Cheeverstown House in Dublin to live independently.

Capture Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube / YouTube

“I want to contribute to society,” he says.

I want to live independently. I enjoy my part-time job. If I had a full-time job I would lose my medical card and travel pass.

Frustration

John Dolan, the CEO of Disability Federation of Ireland, said the video shows “the real challenges faced by people with disabilities in Ireland”.

While capturing that determination [to campaign], it also captures the frustration at having to live with a lack of access to the services, supports and policy changes that are needed.

Disability Federation of Ireland / YouTube

Last month, the organisation launched its DisableInequality.ie campaign to make equality for people with disabilities an election issue.

Read: FactCheck: Is Fine Gael right to say it has “maintained disability spending”?

Read: Looking for a job when you’re disabled can be difficult, but it shouldn’t be impossible

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18 Comments
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    Mute Padraic O' Sullivan
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    Jun 6th 2024, 3:12 PM

    So the bollards were removed in Nov 2023 by some amadan.
    Reported in January by a concerned resident, and the council couldn’t complete the complicated task of replacing the bollards, mitigating the risk at the dangerous junction 4 months after reporting , 6 months after it occurred.

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    Mute Brian M
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    Jun 6th 2024, 2:53 PM

    Poor woman. Such needless loss of life on Irish roads. We all need to take collective responsibility and cop on.

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    Mute Terry Molloy
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    Jun 6th 2024, 3:00 PM

    Seriously what use are plastic bollards to protect vulnerable cyclists, poor young woman

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    Mute barry williams
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    Jun 6th 2024, 3:22 PM

    @Terry Molloy: Drivers see the bollards and should take heed and slow down for cyclists or pedestrians but in this case some headcase removed them resulting needlessly in a young womans death

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 6th 2024, 3:30 PM

    @barry williams: The article suggests the bollards were ‘dug up’, which requires a lot of effort, and equipment, far more than simple removal.

    And time.

    There seems to be more to this than meets the eye.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 6th 2024, 4:10 PM

    @Jimmy Wallace: If those bollards were in place then the vehicle would have had to strike them – possibly causing damage to the vehicle – to also collide with the cyclist.

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    Mute Longlin
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    Jun 6th 2024, 4:58 PM

    @ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: If they are like the ones I’m thinking of, they are flexible when hit and spring back upright afterwards causing no damage to any vehicle. They unfortunately can be screwed out of the ground easily and this used to happen in my local area where young lads would be messing with them at night. They are better than nothing, but no substitute for proper segregated off road cycle lanes which actually protect cyclists and encourage cycling in any countries which have them.

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    Mute AD Cahill
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:22 PM

    @Terry Molloy: Sad reality is that some drivers are more concerned to avoid scraping their paintwork off a fixed object than to avoid a cyclist. Studies show them slowing down more for bollards than pedestrians/ cyclists

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:25 PM

    @Longlin: Thanks Longlin.

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    Mute UK Hurling Bloke
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    Jun 6th 2024, 5:37 PM

    @Terry Molloy: read what Barry said Terry – they work just understand that..far far better to have them at junctions like that than not…

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    Mute Alan Kavanagh
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    Jun 6th 2024, 3:54 PM

    Large trucks have to drive over these plastic bollards on some roads when turning.

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    Mute Padraig O'Brien
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    Jun 6th 2024, 8:28 PM

    No accountability yet again for our “public servants” who will, yet again, skip off without answering any hard questions.

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    Mute RIP
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    Jun 6th 2024, 7:28 PM

    These cycle lanes are a nightmare where Safety has not been prioritised

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    Mute John Nolan
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    Jun 6th 2024, 8:31 PM

    Please let the person who removed them get the Karma deserved

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