People with Disabilities in Ireland
4th Floor Jervis House
Jervis Street
Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 87 21 74 4
Fax: 01 87 21 77 1
Email: info@pwdi.ie
Remarks by Lotti McClure, Vice-Chairperosn PwDI, at the openinG of the Limeirck Advocacy Seminar
My involvement as an advocate began at he age of eight when my sister was born with Downs Syndrome, but to be more exact, it began when I was 13 and the local school board wanted to put my sister in the class at the local centre for several / profound intellectually disabled.
The family believed this was not what she needed and we wrote and spoke to local officials until she was admitted to the elementary school close to our home. We thought this was great until one day when I went to collect her from her class I found her sitting alone at a table colouring while the others were receiving their lessons. When I asked the teacher why, she as much as said my sister wasn't worth her time. I can't remember just what I said that day but I do know that for the first time in my life I had talked to an adult. I was afraid of what my parents would say but, to my surprise, they understood and said I was right to stand up for my sister or anyone else who may need my help.
As my sister grew up, she began standing up for herself and letting her needs and rights be known. By the time she had graduated from High School she knew she wanted to work. After two months in the local workshop, she went out to the school and applied for a job as a teacher-helper. Her ability to show and tell others what she could do got her the job. At the age of 46, she is still standing up for her rights and the rights of others.
Many years after my back-talking the teacher I worked in a mental health hospital where I saw the need for some of the acute patients to learn how to become peer and self advocates. Some of them had a history of repeat stays in the hospital. One reason was that they were always getting into trouble in the community.
After being taught how to become a peer and self advocates, the return patients made fewer returns and began to live in their communities without causing problems. Why? Because they had learned how to stand up for themselves and others. They had become aware of their rights and how to obtain them without disturbance and, most of all, self-esteem had returned.
In conclusion, I would like to say that advocacy, whether it be through an an appointed person, a peer or one self, is very important to any and everyone's life. Just important is the need to know the difference successfull advocacy can make in one another's life.