Inclusion - Agency - Intersectionality

Across Ireland and the rest of the world, the struggle for disability rights has continued for a long time. One of the activists involved in the early days of the Irish movement, Suzy Byrne, shared with Beatrice Fanucci why it is essential that the voices of those affected should be the ones to lead the charge.

While the first small groups fighting for disability rights emerged in the 1800s, it was only in the 1900s that stronger advocacy started to take place. In many parts of the world, this struggle followed similar patterns to many other civil rights movements: challenging harmful stereotypes, campaigning for institutional change and rallying for the selfdetermination of a minority community.

In Ireland, disability rights activism in terms of identity politics began in the early 1990s. And in its history, as Irish disability rights activist Suzy Byrne put it, “There have been lots of organisations for disabled people, but not of disabled people.”

Before the 1990s, in Ireland “you would have had organisations that were condition-specific, and where families and friends of disabled people came together, often setting up services to support people.”

People like disability rights campaigner Dónal Toolan changed the course of the movement, demanding that disabled people be accorded the right to be their own advocates. He started by fighting for simple rights, like “the right for a disabled person to vote without having to have a medical certificate saying they had capacity”. He went on to found the Forum of People with Disabilities, challenging the charity model that characterised the disability sector to ensure that disabled people could have their voice heard.