Give the Perfect Gift this Christmas
Celebrating 50 years of Irish Wheelchair Association:
EXTRAORDINARY LIVES
Price: €15.00 (free shipping within Republic of Ireland only).
The book is now for sale as an ideal Christmas Gift and to secure your copy of Extraordinary Lives, please click the Buy Now button below where you will be transferred to our secure online shop hosted by PayPal.
Please Note: You do not have to have a paypal account to purchase this book, you can continue and pay by Credit Card as normal using the Buy Now button.
Alternatively, you can click here to download and complete the order form , or by returning the order form in the Spring 2011 edition of Spokeout to:
Information Department
Irish Wheelchair Assocaition
Blackheath Drive,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3
Extraordinary Lives was launched by RTE Presenter Myles Dungan, during a formal reception in Croke Park on Wednesday 23rd of March.
IWA would like to thank everyone who attended this event which was a great success.
Below are a selection of images from the launch.
The story of IWA
In September 1960, Ireland entered a team into the first Paralympic Games which took place in Rome. It was at this event that the seed was planted amongst the Irish athletes to form an organisation that would work to achieve greater independence, freedom and choice for people living with a disability. During their time in Rome, the athletes had the opportunity to talk with other athletes and realised that people with disabilities in other countries were living much more independent lives.
Just two months after their return from Rome on the 10th November 1960, several of the team members came together with some other progressive individuals in the Pillar Room of the Mater hospital, Dublin, and formed the Irish Wheelchair Association. The founder members were all wheelchair users who were committed to improving the lives of people with physical disabilities in Ireland.
At that time, life for people with disabilities in Ireland was very different from today. Many people with disabilities lived in institutions or in family homes, and didn’t have the opportunity to live independently or to participate in their community. The founders of IWA were forward-thinking and determined people who realised that this needed to change.
Only one of these founder members, Oliver Murphy, who was also on the team in Rome, is alive today.
The structure of the commemorative book
This book includes profiles of our eight founder members, a summary of developments in each decade, and interviews with 15 living members whose lives have been intertwined with the Association over the years. We believe that the story of the Association is best told by our members, who have first-hand experience of what it means to live with a disability.
The book is not structured as a heavy historical book, but rather as a collection of human interest stories, illustrated by a rich mix of contemporary photography and previously unseen archive photography.
