REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT QUEENS UNIVERSITY OUTREACH CAMPUS ARMAGH, WEDNESDAY, 23RD JUNE 1999
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT QUEENS UNIVERSITY OUTREACH CAMPUS ARMAGH, WEDNESDAY, 23RD JUNE 1999
I am really delighted to join you here today in Armagh at Queen’s University Outreach Campus. That pleasure is all the greater because the concept that the Campus embodies – that of reaching out to the wider community and especially to the disabled - enabling them to unlock their unique genius and talents and insights for the benefit of all – is one very dear to my own heart. During my time as Pro-Vice Chancellor at Queen’s, I took a very particular interest in helping to support the development of this Centre, and it is wonderful to see the extraordinary work that has been achieved since my involvement in those early days. From a fledging idea, it has now taken off and flown with confidence and strength.
One of the most important aspects of the Arts in the Community Project is the opportunity it provides for able-bodied and disabled people to come together, to share their skills and knowledge and experience. That generates a wonderful synergy which shows, in a very practical way, that difference is to be celebrated and not shunned. The friendships that are built up on this campus are living proof that difference should be embraced, approached with joyful curiosity, for it is what makes this world a place of endless opportunity and growth. It is a message which has a resonance and value on this island that goes way beyond the issue of disability. We can all learn from it.
Sadly, this celebration of difference has not traditionally been the experience of disabled people. Their exclusion for all too long, fed into the psyche of people with disabilities. They were deprived of the type of education that would give them not only the skills but also, crucially, the self-confidence and self-esteem to make the most of their talents. That is why your work here at this Campus is so important. For education is the key that unlocks the talents of people who are disabled, freeing them from the cultural and social straitjackets of mainstream attitudes and prejudices in which they were trapped for so long. Education gives people the confidence and self-respect to break free of those constraints, to demonstrate that they have talents and gifts equal, indeed sometimes superior, to the rest of society. The straitjacketing of those talents is not only a personal tragedy, it is an immense loss to society as a whole. How much energy and genius has this world lost by failing to give those who do not measure up to the standards of perfection that society so spuriously imposes, the support to develop their gifts? How many dreams have gone unrealised, how many lives have been only half-lived?
Until we as a world wake up to the fact that genius is not the preserve of a particular creed or social class, that it is not confined to those who can see or hear, or to those who are able-bodied – until we realise that, our world will be the poorer for it.
It is especially appropriate that Arts should be the medium through which people with disabilities are being enabled to become involved in the development of their communities, for - as the Irish painter and writer Christy Brown demonstrated - it is a medium that is capable of transcending any boundary, any level of disability, any amount of social disadvantage.
I would like to express my warm congratulations to Richard Jay, Tess Hurson, and everyone at Queen’s Armagh for their tireless energy and commitment in making this project such a success. I know that you could not have succeeded without the support and partnership of many organisations, especially Arts Care, the Craigavon and Banbridge Trust, the Arts and Disability Forum, the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust and the Arts Council. I would like to commend everyone concerned for taking this important initiative.
Most of all, I would like to congratulate all of the students who have participated on this course for having the courage and imagination to take that first step. I wish all of you every success in your future work.
Thank you all once again for your very warm welcome and for allowing me this opportunity to witness your tremendous achievements. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.