Disability in Cavan 2

As I have said before, Cavan’s disabled are to be seen and not heard. They are not expected, and indeed are discouraged, from adopting too independent a stance. Those confined to a wheelchair should see this as their fate. What’s more they should not complain about just how bad footpaths are in Cavan, or the bizarre location of dished footpaths: “Society” owes them nothing. Instead they should pursue a paternalistic lifestyle, perhaps under the aegis of the local branch of the Irish Wheelchair Association. They should accept their role as second-class citizens in Ireland, as the manifestations of the accursed of God. They should not attempt to mix within society as a whole, but should see their world as inhabiting a shadow-world, where they are collected each day by the IWA bus, the Cuchulann, and are driven to the IWA headquarters at Corlurgan on Cavan town’s outskirts, there to engage in exercisers and games under the constantly fluctuating moodscapes of the centre’s director. And when their time at the centre comes to an end, they can look forward to being taken home again and dispensed by the aforementioned Cuchulann. Naturally they are expected to feel gratitude for this treatment. (Please forgive me. Many may consider this a worthwhile form of existence and who am I to disagree? But it is the nearest thing to Hell on Earth I can imagine.) They have experiences to tell, but they are like children, and have been presented as incapable of doing this on their own, without the introduction of a professional writer to interpret their grunts and gestures into a format that is comprehensible by the general public

 And what is more they may have been persuaded to add their names to Cavan Co. Council’s housing list – even though few houses are being built. But should they be so rash as to consider complaining about the quality of access for disabled people in the county, their temerity will be dissuaded by the knowledge that they are harming their places on the housing list.

 Perhaps this is their journey.