REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE BOARD OF THE IRISH WHEELCHAIR ASSOCIATION
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE TO THE BOARD OF THE IRISH WHEELCHAIR ASSOCIATION ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Dia dhíbh go léir inniu. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ócáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom.
In addition to thanking you all for your warm welcome, I’d particularly like to thank your Chief Executive Kathleen McLoughlin for inviting me to be with you on this very special day as you mark the 50th anniversary of the Irish Wheelchair Association, an association of which I am very proud to be Patron.
If ever a group of people could tell the story of moving from social exclusion to social, civic and political inclusion it is wheelchair users. How long and hard they had to lobby to shift the many obstacles physical, legal and attitudinal which kept them from living life on their own terms. When this organisation started fifty years ago the road ahead of it, the road that took them to this golden jubilee celebration, was something of an isolated and overlooked bye-road that just ran into more by-roads and even cul-de-sacs. The structural, attitudinal, legal and systemic changes we have witnessed over these past fifty years have not brought us to a world of perfection for wheelchair users but they have certainly changed the landscape of experience and opportunity for the better and they have brought issues like access, care, opportunity and rights into the mainstream of civic discourse nationally at European level and internationally.
Looking back along the sweep of the fifty years there have been many milestones which have helped to advance the cause of a disability sensitive Ireland, not least of those milestones was the foundation of this Association. Your members were able to bring a collective focus and momentum that bit by bit shifted the many obstacles to change out of the way. Today we have a National Disability Authority, improved health services for people with physical disabilities, a range of resources and facilities to support independent living, a published strategic plan for a more just and equal society, a large body of social inclusion legislation and most importantly a constituency of men and women with disability that is articulate, educated, confident and determined to keep the process of transformation underway.
It was eight determined people who, half a century ago, returned from the Paralympics, threw ten shillings each into a bucket and formed the Irish Wheelchair Association. They were also throwing down the gauntlet that this organisation would be key to letting their abilities flourish and shine in a world remade and absent all unnecessary obstacles to achieving their potential. Today you have a membership of 20,000, a nationwide network of resource centres and a history of signal successes in the quality of services and facilities available to those this Association serves.
I am delighted to acknowledge the presence here today of Dr. Oliver Murphy, one of those eight inspiring people whose ten shillings went such a long, long way to improving the lives of thousands of people with disabilities. Your perseverance and selflessness have been recognised by a number of richly deserved honours, among them recently a doctorate from the University of Limerick, the Freedom of Drogheda and an appearance on a commemorative stamp. But nothing could realistically repay the debt we as a society owe Oliver and his co-founders for helping to reshape Irish society in ways that ended the old culture of isolation that was the experience of so many of our citizens with disability.
Albert Einstein once said ‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.’ Out of many difficulties this Association has created many opportunities. Those changes have happened because of the hard work and generosity of a large army of volunteers from all over the country who in every decade have been the unfailing hands and hearts of Irish Wheelchair Association. We owe them so much and on this day thank them for their fidelity and their care.
To those who have made this work their vocation, their life’s work, I say a heartfelt thank you. To our Wheelchair using citizens, to our citizens living and coping with disability I offer a massive thank-you for all you have done to ensure that our republic never forgets the ambitions set out in our proclamation - to cherish the children of the nation equally and the firm promise of our Constitution to uphold the equality dignity and the freedom of every individual.
In these times of economic retrenchment your work takes on a new pressure, intensity and importance. Unemployment affects you disproportionately, scarcer resources will impact on services and on fund-raising but as you contemplate the restricted draining landscape that faced your founders, may you find the inspiration and the imagination to make the coming years better than anyone right now can believe possible.
Comghairdeas libh‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir. Thank you.