REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE IRISH WHEELCHAIR ASSOCIATION’S NEW RESPITE CENTR
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE IRISH WHEELCHAIR ASSOCIATION’S NEW RESPITE CENTRE AND EXTENSION
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá mé iontach sásta go bhfuil an chaoi agam bheith anseo libh inniu. Míle buíochas libh as an chaoin-chuireadh.
Chairman, distinguished guests, members of the Irish Wheelchair Association, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am so pleased to be here to officially open this wonderful new Respite Centre and Sports Complex extension, which I know you have worked long and hard to create. It is a particularly fitting way to celebrate the International Day of People with Disabilities and to mark another big milestone in the history of the Irish Wheelchair Association, of which I am proud to be Patron. For over forty years now the Association has championed the rights of those with disabilities and expanded the range of services and opportunities available to them and to their carers. Every year has seen an improvement in facilities and a deeper public awareness of the issues which disability creates.
Throughout our lives, just about every one of us is affected in some way by a disabling condition of one form or other. When this happens those affected, their families, parents, partners, children, friends, can feel isolated, searching for answers to too many questions, trying to deal with the many emotions that inevitably accompany such news, facing challenges often unknown, often feared.
For many individuals and families this Association has made the difference between a life of fulfilment and a life of frustration. It has been the outward manifestation of a caring people and a determined people for whom disability means finding solutions and not just being overwhelmed by problems.
Back in 1960 when the Irish Wheelchair Association was only a rumour and an idea in the heads of a small number of people, disability excluded people unnecessarily from many aspects of everyday life, which with a bit of imagination and better planning they could have fully enjoyed. Today that small group has grown to 13,000 members with several thousand more supporters and volunteers who as Harry Ellis rightly said (in his President’s address included in 2002 Annual Report) “are the spirit of the organisation.” And as the Association has changed much since those days - so too have the mindsets of society towards people with disabilities. Your mission statement which might have been viewed as a pipe-dream then, is today a real, attainable, and closer future which guarantees “the achievement of full social, economic and educational integration of people with disabilities as equal, independent and participative members within the general community”.
That mission statement is as much a mission for all society as for this Association for society cannot reach its true potential, is impoverished, has a skewed perspective, if it fails to recognise and harness the talents, the genius of all its people, if it is held back by the tired, old, but potent prejudices that were so pervasive and so pernicious. There is a new understanding today about the ways in which society failed for so long to recognise that the full dignity and human rights of people were not being acknowledged, often through ignorance or misguided good-intentions. Now we know that every life wasted through lack of opportunity causes a huge loss not just to that human person but to every one of us. Our best natural resource on this island and on this planet is the giftedness, the unique giftedness of every human being. We have all seen too much of that resource wasted. That is why what you do here is so important. Centres such as this provide services which are nothing short of vital, directly or indirectly to tens of thousands of people – the range of services vast – from peer counselling to motoring advice, from personal assistance services to providing independent living apartments, education and training, respite breaks, sports, Chinese therapy and much, much more.
Because of what you do here and perhaps more importantly the way that you do it, many people know the joy of enhanced and new life options. They know that they matter in ways that past generations did not. Their voices have a nationwide impact unthinkable just a short few years ago. The story is far from over for there is a long journey still to go but today we take pride in having come this far and in everything achieved to date including this fine facility. That pride is the energy for what lies ahead. It is the source of the self-confidence and the dedication which will take the Irish Wheelchair Association to its golden jubilee with each year bringing greater and greater success. I congratulate you on what you have achieved thus far and on all you are determined to achieve in the years ahead. Our country is a much better place to live because of what you do here. For all the lives you’ve touched, for all the unthanked hours and years of hard slog you’ve put into making days such as this a reality, I thank you, commend you, congratulate you and with great delight declare officially open the Sr. Carmel Fallon Commemorative Centre and the Oliver Murphy Commemorative Sports Centre.
Mo bhuíochas libh arís. Guím gach rath agus séan ar bhur gcuid oibre san am ata le teacht. Go raibh maith agaibh.