Good morning everyone, and thank you for being here.
When I speak about disability, I don’t speak as an observer. I speak as someone who lives it, navigates it, challenges it, and fights every day to make this district fairer and more accessible.
And I speak as the Vice-Chair of Fermanagh & Omagh District Council’s Access & Inclusion Group — a role that lets me bring the lived experiences of disabled people straight into the heart of local decision-making.
For me, and for so many in our community, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is not a day for empty celebration. It’s a reminder of why we fight. Why we speak out. Why we refuse to sit quietly while systems fail us, while support structures break down, and while society tells us to be grateful for the bare minimum.
Because as I’ve always said through My Way Access, DPAC Northern Ireland, and my media work:
Disabled people are not asking for special treatment — we are demanding equal treatment.
Here in Omagh, we have a strong community. We have people who care, like Shopmobility Omagh. But we also have barriers, and I see them up close every day. In my own life as a powered wheelchair user, and in my work as Vice-Chair of the Access & Inclusion Group, where I hear directly from disabled people, carers, families and local organisations.
I hear about the barriers in our town centre.
I see the challenges in transport and infrastructure.
I hear the frustration about employment, healthcare, housing and public spaces.
And I watch how attitudes — the ones people don’t talk about — still hold so many of us back.
One thing I’ve learned from years of audits, consultations, and accessibility work is this:
Nothing changes until lived experience sits at the table and refuses to be tokenised.
And that’s exactly what I do in every council meeting, every workshop, every policy discussion. I bring real stories, real barriers, and real solutions into the room — because change does not happen without truth. And truth does not happen without disabled people leading the conversation.
I don’t do quiet activism.
I don’t do sugar-coated advocacy.
And I definitely don’t do “softly softly” when people are being excluded.
Awareness is not the goal.
Real change is.
And real change requires honesty, pressure, and courage — not box-ticking.
Here’s the good news:
Omagh can lead on this.
We have the potential. We have the ambition. We have people, businesses, and community groups who genuinely want to improve accessibility.
And in the Access & Inclusion Group, I see that willingness all the time — councillors, officers, organisations and partners who ask, “What do disabled people actually need, and how do we deliver it?”
When we look at the Digi-Hub, at improving workspaces, at building opportunities for disabled people to work, learn, and contribute, we see that inclusion is not charity — it’s economic sense. It’s community sense. It’s human sense.
When local clubs (like my club An Caisleán Glas, Sperrin Óg, Handball & Fr. Shields Camogie), groups, and organisations ask for guidance on making activities accessible, that’s progress.
When businesses invite disabled people in to give honest feedback, that’s progress.
When local government brings lived experience into policy — not as decoration, but as leadership — that is real progress.
So today, marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I want to restate the values that guide all of my work — as an activist, as a campaigner, as a content creator, and as Vice-Chair of the Access & Inclusion Group:
Accessibility is a right — not a favour.
Disabled people deserve dignity — not pity.
Accountability matters — especially from those in power.
Inclusion must be intentional — not assumed.
And progress happens when disabled people are in the room — and listened to.
To businesses and organisations across Omagh: keep going. Keep improving. Keep asking the right questions. Disabled customers, staff, and families deserve nothing less.
To councillors and decision-makers: keep disabled people at the heart of every strategy, every plan, every consultation. Accessibility should never be an afterthought — it should be the starting point.
And to disabled people across this district: your voice matters more than you realise. Keep speaking. Keep challenging. Keep showing up. You belong in every conversation about the future of this place.
I’ll finish with this:
Disability is not the problem. Barriers are.
And together — as a community, as a council, and as a district — we can break them.
Thank you.