Ger Minogue and Kathleen Ryan will present, “Mum I love you but I want to be with my girl” is a report on the group’s use of interactive drama to generate discussion by people with a learning disability about a subject that has typically been problematic. Through this method it has been possible to show the sensitivity and awareness people with disability can bring to subject of relationships. The law in Ireland is largely prohibitive and assumes a lack of capability. This work is a positive contribution towards challenging the premise of those laws.
In the second paper Mairead Moroney and Helena MacInerney present “Fáilte? – Welcome? Shannon Access Project”, an innovative study combining the concerns of four separate groups, the Active Age, People with Physical and Learning Disabilities and the Parent Toddler fraternity who came together to conduct an audit over the summer concentrating on the priorities identified by the group themselves.
These ranged from the concrete and specific assessments of wheelchair access toilets and baby changing facilities (25% deemed good-excellent in both categories) to more general enquiries about staff training in disability awareness (80% deemed fair to poor).
With a 8:12 split between Public and Commercial Premises managers and owners gave the team and their impending findings a positive welcome on the whole. “It’s good to hear first hand from people who need this sort of help” was a reaction typical of the value placed on the opinions of those taking part.
A full report is due to be published before the end of the year but the experience of the researchers and their interaction with each other is one of the major dimensions of the project of interest to the Congress.
The group will return with their impressions of the Congress, to help stage, along with their colleagues in the Brothers of Charity Clare services the annual National Advocacy Conference. Presenters with a National and International profile (including presenters from the Rome Congress) are set to appear at the Clare Inn Hotel and Spa November 16th promising an exciting culmination to a busy year for a group of researchers who continue to redefine the expectations of people with an intellectual disability.