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ILMI at the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters talking about employment and the UNCRPD
IMAGE: group shot of delegates and politicians including Patrick Flanagan and Deputy Holly Cairns and Senator Erin McGreehan
ILMI were joined by representatives from NLN Cork, Solar, and the NDA and all shared our perspectives on the issues relating to Disabled People and Employment, under Article 27 of UNCRPD.
To be able to speak first, presented an opportunity to set a tone for the wider conversation that reflected ILMI values and priorities. This reflected primarily feedback provided through ILMI peer spaces on UNCRPD and RAF (Reasonable Accommodations Fund), as well as the CREATE project.
Committee members showed genuine interest and understanding of the issues that Disabled People face, each demonstrating specific areas of interest whether related to funding of support bodies, continued access to medical cards or disability allowance for workers, and the fragmented nature of support provision.
There was broad agreement amongst representatives on many of the points raised, though ILMI was probably the strongest advocate for person centred and person led policy. We hope that all contributions will provide food for thought, but more importantly encourage action in addressing the needs of disabled people seeking employment."
For more information please contact patrickflanagan@ilmi.ie ILMI CREATE Project Coordinator
ILMI VOICE Project Kilkenny
IMAGE: Zoom screenshot of presentation and some participants
The first online workshop took place via Zoom this week, connecting with disabled people across Kilkenny. Paula Soraghan the VOICE Project worker spoke first about who ILMI are and what they do as a DPO, as well as an intro to VOICE and listening to what each person would like from the project. Eve Curran was the guest speaker and she spoke about online banking/safety and how people can protect themselves online from fraud and scams. Workshops will be in groups of 6-8 people and will be one hour over 6 weeks.
Paula will be promoting VOICE on Community Radio Kilkenny City 88.7fm on Monday 23 May from 12.30-1pm so if you want to hear more about VOICE, tune in!
For more information please call Paula on Mobile: 087 1630 433 or email paulasoraghan@ilmi.ie
ILMI VOICE Tipperary meeting 19th May
IMAGE Screenshot of zoom meeting
The Guest Speaker, Eimear Purcell Membership Support Officer with SVP gave a very interesting overview of the broad range of activities that SVP (St Vincent de Paul) do including Education Grants, social housing, prison and hospital visits and the 3rd largest retailer in Ireland. Eimear was very keen to encourage disabled people to volunteer with SVP. There are many roles including volunteering in one of their shops, updating their social media, home visits etc.
Want to know more? Please Email nicolameacle@ilmi.ie OR text/ring 087 718 9237
ILMI VOICE Project CDP Meeting
IMAGE: Zoom screenshot of group
The CDP network had another meeting this morning. It was very productive and great to hear how well the 7 projects are progressing. The feedback about the progression of VOICE was very well received. Nicola and Paula are continuing to work in establishing their connections with disabled people in Tipperary (Nicola) and Kilkenny (Paula). The online workshops have been going very well for Nicola and Paula and they will be continuing for the next few weeks. Each project discussed its progress, challenges and achievements to date.
ILMI SFC Project Update
Image: screenshot from class
On Monday evening, the Strategies for Change participants were given a class on the media and disability, hosted by Catherine Gallagher a graduate of the SFC program and a PHD student in DCU. Catherine first began with the general theory behind journalism. We learned that journalism is the oxygen of publicity. Catherine then went on to explain the basic principles behind journalism- that it deals with recent events, that it tailors itself to a particular audience, that it strives for factual accuracy, that is independent for government control and that it produces original content. Of course, not every newspaper is like that and Catherine stressed that this was an ideal of what journalism should be as opposed to what it is in reality.
Next we learned about the different types of news values and the ‘inverted pyramid’ as a guide to structuring a news story. At the top of the pyramid are your basic W questions? When? Where? Who? What? Why? Followed by other background information and general info. An example of this would be “ILMI hosts seminar in the Mansion House on Friday 20 May 2022 to promote a right to PAS.” When you have your news story, the next thing to consider is the angle you are going to take or how you are going to frame it. We learned about different framing but the one most relevant to the disability rights movement was the human interest frame. In essence, private citizens are used to illustrate the importance of a wider issue. The downside to these human interest stories is that they are emotional in tone and rarely seek to answer the how or the why of the issue at hand. For example, an article on a disabled person who needs PAS might focus on the emotional aspects of the issue but fail to explain the systematic causes of the problem.
The key to changing this, Catherine explained, is taking control of the narrative. As disabled people we need to produce our own news, we need to pitch our own ideas and we need to work together with journalists and others working in media to make sure that we are being portrayed accurately. It was a very enjoyable class which will hopefully spawn an array of articles and podcasts. Many thanks to Catherine for the talk.
Written by Ross Coleman
SFC Master Class
IMAGE: group zoom shot of class
At our 3rd SFC Master Class session this week we had Phil Friend come and talk about his book. "why are you pretending to be normal".
Phil kicked of the Master Class by telling us that he had polio as a child “so I've been a disabled person forever”. In his 40's he lost his job as a childcare officer and was forced into looking for something new and consequently went to a meeting about disabled children.
During this meeting one of the other participants asked him “why was he pretending to be normal” and this lived with Phil for a long time and eventually he started running personal development courses for disabled people. Some of the participants on these courses asked Phil why don't you write a book and that is exactly what he did with colleague and friend Dave Rees.
The Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University
The Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University, is collecting input from people with disabilities, people working in disability services, carers, academics, policy makers, and other stakeholders around Ireland to engage with our initiative to collect responses from people to join us in calling for a revision of the Disability Act 2005.
For more information click this link
Social Inclusion Forum 2022 | CWI / EAPN Preparatory Workshops
The Social Inclusion Forum (SIF) is one of the structures that supports the development and implementation of policy to address poverty and social exclusion as outlined in the current strategy, Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025.
The theme of SIF 2022 is Maintaining Momentum: Implementing the Roadmap for Social Inclusion
SIF 2022 will be held on …..
INAR
Register today for the Justice for the Undocumented Poster Day of Action, May 21st.
What: Volunteer with MRCI and JFU for our Poster Day of Action. Teams of volunteers will be organised in cities and towns across Ireland to distribute our information posters about the regularisation scheme.
When: Saturday May 21st - 12-4pm approximately
Where: Locations all over Ireland
Who: YOU! Register as a volunteer or coordinator for your local area. Great opportunity to volunteer with MRCI and make a big difference to the lives of undocumented people in Ireland
Why: 3 months left of the Regularisation Scheme, we urgently need to get the word out there.
How: Register here
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