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Tragedy and Endeavour: Society and Disability in the Post-Modern Era

Social Structures

Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisted Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute)

Matthew McKenna

On March 24th, we celebrate the United Nations International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims. This day honours the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations and promotes the right to truth and justice. In this context, it reminds us of historical and contemporary violations of the rights of persons with disabilities who, in many regions, still experience institutionalization, forced treatments and conditions amounting to torture. This piece briefly discusses the post-modern chronology of suffering endured by persons with disabilities in the struggle for equal treatment and recognition. It emphasises the importance of remembering victims of the past by advancing the struggle for full-spectrum equality for persons with disabilities in the modern world.

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Disability and urban accessibility in cities: how can we improve?

Author: Nicola Posteraro, Qualified Italian Lawyer, Post-Doctoral Research fellow in Administrative Law, University of Milan, Qualified as Associate Professor of Administrative Law

Social Structures

Dr Nicola Posteraro

According to data compiled by the National Association of Workers with health conditions or impairments (ANMIL), there are cities in Italy where people with disabilities can live their life and exercise their free movement right on an equal basis with others, and other cities that are still very hostile. Accessibility interventions, when undertaken, are often inadequate. This is due to the lack or limitation of public funding available, and to the regulatory fragmentation, which certainly does not help those who have to apply the legal provisions on accessibility. Not all residents are able to have equal access to the services of the city, to participate in municipal decision-making processes and to benefit from the economic growth of the city. This is a problem that negatively impacts on the fundamental right to health of people with disabilities: in fact, being able to access places and public facilities allows mobility and amplifies the network of social relations. While the data above concerns Italy, a similar situation can be found in many other countries.

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Including Patients and the Public in Research

Stories/Lived Experience

Author: Jamie Howell; PhD researcher, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Animation, 6 people on a blue background 3 healthcare practitioners 2 elderly people 1 person in a wheelchair and a female.
BioMed Central-

In recent years, health researchers have begun to embrace the concept of patient and public involvement (PPI). Rather than conducting research on or for various populations, we have begun to move towards working with patients and the public by prioritizing their needs and concerns. This allows researchers to learn from those who have lived experience and can help them design research projects which are more beneficial to the population being researched.

I first heard of PPI during my MSc, when my supervisor, Dr Rebecca Maguire encouraged me to include aspects of PPI in my research. Dr Maguire has worked as both a researcher and as a patient advocate, and her expertise has been invaluable to my own research.

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Lá Idirnáisiúnta na Máthairtheangacha agus an tOideachas sa Mháthairtheanga

Audio Version

Lá Idirnáisiúnta na Máthairtheangacha agus an tOideachas sa Mháthairtheanga Údair: Is Ollamh Comhlach le Dlí in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad í an Dr Noelle Higgins agus Is í Riarthóir Theagasc na Gaeilge in Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, OÉ Gaillimh í an Dr Dorothy Ní Uigín- in Maynooth University, Ireland. Voiced by Caoimhe Ní Fhaogáin.
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A Feminist Ethic of Care Can Deliver a Post Pandemic Careful Recovery [i]

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/IWD2021

Social Lives

Author: Pauline Cullen , Associate Professor Department of Sociology Maynooth University

Pictured Dr Pauline Cullen

“The majority of healthcare workers are women, and both paid and unpaid caring roles mostly fall to women as well. Then there is the additional challenge of increased pressure on the domestic front,” writes campaign group Covid Women’s Voices, a  diverse range of  female healthcare workers, teachers, academics, lawyers and others that observe daily the gendered realities of the pandemic. This group echoes calls from feminist organisations including the National Women’s Council that women’s voices are insufficiently heard during the pandemic.

The facts bear out their lived experience. Ireland ranks 101st in the world for women’s parliamentary representation.   Successive and severe lockdowns have closed schools, childcare and supports for older people and those with disabilities for long periods of time  placing significant burdens on women. Inconceivably, there are  no women on Ireland’s governmental committees on Health and Covid-19.

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Promoting Equal Participation and Eliminating Discrimination: Time to Change the Narrative.

Social Lives

Author: Mohamed Maalim – PhD Researcher, of the ALL Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Blue Butterfly with Brown slate background. Zero Discrimination Day 01 March 2021 wording in top right hand corner

The Zero Discrimination day is celebrated annually on the 1st day of March, to reflect on our rich human diversity and the need for equal opportunity to enjoy fundamental human rights, and to fight against discrimination in all its forms and manifestations. This year, above all previous, the ongoing global COVID-19 Pandemic with all its disruptive nature and the misfortune it has brought and caused, has also offered humanity a glimpse of its ‘non-discrimination’ attribute. The advent of COVID-19 reinforced upon us that we are all equal as humans in our susceptibility, our fear and concern for self and others, and indeed in our hope of getting back to as ‘normal life’ as possible or whatever that ‘normal’ means. 

Additionally, with Covid-19, we have adopted a common enemy enforcing upon us an almost military-type operation to fight back. The nations of the world in an unprecedented fashion formed ‘NATO’ type alliances and collaborative networks with the ‘Big Tech’ and ‘Big Pharma’ in a concerted effort to develop digital contact tracing and tracking apps‘ and vaccines, respectively.  Individual governments assumed the role of commanding officers alongside senior health personnel, frontline healthcare workers, and other so called ‘essential’ workers as the foot soldiers of the operation, while the general public’s hearts and minds were won by calls to stay at home to suppress the virus. 

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International Mother Language Day and Mother Language Education

Social Structures

Click here for Irish Language Audio Version

Authors: Dr Noelle Higgins is an Associate Professor in Law at Maynooth University and Dr Dorothy Ní Uigín is Riarthóir Theagasc na Gaeilge in Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge at NUI Galway

www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day

The 21st of February is International Mother Language Day, with the theme of this year’s celebration being ‘Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society’. This celebration of languages was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1999, and has been celebrated every year globally since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. Its establishment has since been heralded by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, which, in Resolution 56/262 of 2002, welcomed UNESCO’s initiative, and called ‘upon Member States and the Secretariat to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.’ This year’s theme emphasises the role of language as a means of societal inclusion and underlines the importance of education in one’s Mother Tongue.

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ALL’s Contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Social Structures

Authors: Kimberly Wright, Postgraduate LLM student Global Legal Studies & Anastasia Campbell, Administrative Lead, ALL Institute

Black and White Picture showing young girl in front of a gate holding a sign saying 'Justice for______________x I left blank because I'll probably need this sign again next year."
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

On the 20th of February, the United Nations World Day of Social Justice gives the world an opportunity to celebrate peace, social inclusion, and respect for human rights. Those values are at the core of the United Nations (UN) action, and, in particular, of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), which were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. The UN SDGs consist of a total of 17 universal goals adopted by all 193 UN member states aimed at improving and ensuring a sustainable future for all. These goals include poverty, inequality, climate change, peace and justice among various other causes for concern. The Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute’s mission is to ensure that all people around the world, particularly those who have been subject to marginalisation, achieve a good quality of life and full participation in society through the use of appropriate technologies and evidence-based policies and laws. Our research is dedicated to promoting human rights-based and person-centred systems to empower people and enhance social inclusion and involvement.

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The ALL Internship Story so Far: Mentoring for Education and Career Uplift

Stories/Lived Experience

Author: Kathleen Cunningham, Undergraduate Arts Student at Maynooth University

Kathleen Cunningham Picture

I am a first year Undergraduate Arts Student at Maynooth University, studying English, Sociology, Psychology and Law. 

Last year I completed the Turn to Teaching programme at Maynooth, on the Foundation Certificate in the Initial Teacher Education course. During this programme, I learned that my own lived experience in education gives me a beneficial skillset and great insight that I can bring back to a career in the field of education. On the Turn to Teaching (TTT) programme we also learned about key concepts affecting teaching in Ireland today. We learned ways in which the school experience can be improved for students of all backgrounds, especially for students coming from backgrounds similar to my own – from DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) designated schools, from the flats, from council estates. 

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Social Technologies and Ubimus for Wellbeing

Social Technologies

Authors:  Joseph Timoney, Azeema Yaseen and Damien McEvoy – , Department of Computer Science, Maynooth University

Azeema Yaseen, Damien McEvoy & Joseph Timoney

 Social technologies enable meaningful social interactions between people, devoid of geographical and time constraints. These technologies are facilitated by a networked communication capability, for example the Internet or a mobile device. We can say, they act as a bridge between humans, no matter how remote they are from each other. Do you know that Facebook, Twitter, and Skype are social technology enabled social networks? If you have an internet connection, they are accessible. Some of these tools are general purpose, while others are domain specific, such as those targeted for health (e.g., wearables and mobile Health), or music (e.g., SoundCloud, Spotify). The three branches of social technologies are illustrated in Figure 1. below.

Figure 1

The development and application of social technologies will promote aims driven by the All institute; The ALL institute aims to facilitate human living and improve the quality of lives across any boundaries, supported by appropriate technologies. To achieve this, the All Institute provides an unparalleled interdisciplinary environment to develop and promote such technologies.

Aligning with this aim, our research interest is the intersection between the two in the form of social technologies for healthcare (patient-practitioners) through musical activities. The theme of our work is ‘Ubiquitous music (ubimus)’ and has a strong social and community underpinning. Our objective is to create social music technology applications: they facilitate networked interaction and engagement that would otherwise be impossible. This will allow inter-connections between people to raises their sense of wellbeing through creative activity, which is increasingly recognised as being important to all aspects of peoples’ health.

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day: An occasion to look at the international prohibition of genocide

Social Structures

Author: Niccolò Zugliani, Doctoral Candidate at the Law Department of the University of Verona (Italy)

Picture used on the United NAtions Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) webpage https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/holocaustremembranceday
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/holocaustremembranceday
Copyright Musealia

The International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is a yearly reminder of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime during World War II. It is also an occasion to pay heed to the existence, even at present times, of potential cases of genocide, despite the international commitments to prevent it and to punish its perpetrators. As such, it offers the opportunity to reflect on the hurdles faced by international criminal justice when confronted with this international crime, and on some avenues recently pursued to avoid impunity.

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A Digital Bounce for ALL?

Picture of the three ALL Institute Co-Directors in front of a white back drop. From left to right: Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan, Delia Ferri

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Authors: Deirdre Desmond, Delia Ferri and Mac MacLachlan; ALL Institute Co-Directors

Picture of the three ALL Institute Co-Directors in front of a white back drop. From left to right: Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan, Delia Ferri
Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan and Delia Ferri, ALL Institute Co-Directors

“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end” Virginia Wolf, ‘Modern Fiction’, 1921.

2020 was certainly a difficult year for many of us, both on personal and work levels, and, despite these challenges, it is noteworthy that the work of the ALL Institute has not only proceeded, but also the commencement of several research projects ensure that we will continue to contribute in many respects to the building of a fairer society. In the past three years, and more so in 2020, we have endeavoured to reach out to different communities and stakeholders at the local, European and global levels. We also launched this blog on the 3rd December 2020, a particularly significant date, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, to signal our commitment towards inclusion and equality.

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The World Braille Day: Celebrating the Importance of Braille for the Full Realization of Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Social Structures

Click here for Audio Version

Author: Silvia Favalli, Post-doctoral research fellow in International law – University of Pavia (Italy)

Two hands reading a braille script.
Stock image from: https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/world-braille-day-2021/

Since 2019, World Braille Day celebrates the significance of Braille as a means of communication and a gateway to realize human rights of persons who are blind or partially sighted. This day commemorates the birthday of its inventor, Louis Braille, born in France in 1809.

Braille is a tactile writing and reading system and consists of the representation of alphabetic and numerical symbols using six dots. The dot patterns are assigned to each letter and number, but they represent musical, mathematical and scientific symbols as well. It also allows users to develop an understanding of the formal structure of language, such as spacing, formatting and grammar.

Braille has been a key tool for persons who are blind or partially sighted to exercise their rights since it was first developed in the XIX century. In particular, Braille is crucial in the context of education, to allow freedom of expression and opinion and, more broadly, to enhance social inclusion, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which focuses on inclusive and equitable quality of education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.

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The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Some Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of the Charter

Social Structures

Author Bio: Neža Šubic, Postdoctoral Researcher, DANCING Project, ALL Institute, Department of Law, Maynooth University

Neža Šubic profile picture

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter) celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. It was proclaimed solemnly by the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on 7 December 2000. Though not formally binding when it was signed, it became legally binding with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009.

The Charter is the European Union’s bill of rights. It contains a comprehensive set of fundamental rights, ranging from civil and political rights to social and economic rights.

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Happy 72nd Anniversary, UDHR!

Irene Spigo Profile Picture

Social Structures

Author: Irene Spigno, General Director of the Inter-American Academy of Human Rights-Autonomous University of Coahuila

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations, with Resolution 217 A (III), proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The Declaration is a landmark document in the history of human rights: for the first time, fundamental human rights were enshrined in a written document.

Drawn up by representatives of all regions of the world with different legal and cultural backgrounds, the Declaration was proclaimed as a common ideal for all peoples and nations.

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Commemorating Human Rights Day

Social Structures

Author: Dr Laura Serra. Postdoctoral researcher reCreating Europe. All Institute. Department of Law, Maynooth University

Laura Serra - Profile Picture

Today, 10th of December, we are commemorating the day in which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Today is Human Rights Day!

Human Rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Yet, in the twenty-first century, billions of people around the world remain on the margins of society, facing multiple Human Rights violations. For this reason, it is essential not only to commemorate the 10th of December but also to remind us how much remains to be done.

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I do not volunteer. I am a volunteer.

UN International Volunteer Day Image

Stories/Lived Experience

Author: Dr. Emma Smith, Postdoctoral Researcher, AT2030, ALL Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Emma Smith Profile Pic

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a fellow volunteer, “Why do you do this?” My answer wasn’t eloquent and was far from complete. I talked about my passion for the cause (that seems to be a given). I spoke about having a skillset I felt I could contribute to help build community. I talked about getting more from the organizations I work with than I ever put in. However, as the weeks have passed, I’ve realized it’s deeper than that – not everyone with passion and a skillset contributes as a volunteer. They contribute to their communities in other ways – they go above and beyond in their work lives, they raise incredible kids who inspire a generation, and they are committed friends and family members.

What is it that makes a volunteer?

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Commemorating the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

International-day-of-people-with-disabilities Logo

Social Structures

Author Ana Maria Sanchez Rodriguez – ALL Institute member, Irish Research Council and a Marie Skłodowska- Curie Actions’ fellow at Maynooth University

The author is grateful for the insights provided by Marité Fernández.

On the 3rd of December we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations proclaimed this day in 1992 and this year the theme is: “Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World”.

While this is a day to observe and to commemorate, there is not much to celebrate. In the past few days, the international community, United Nation agencies, intergovernmental organizations and international organizations have organized virtual conferences to address what the main challenges are in order to realize the rights of persons with disabilities recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights Persons of Disabilities and other regional human rights treaties.

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