Fingal are making way for local disabilities groups

Fingal County Council, along with 19 other local authorities, will support local disabilities groups as they hit the streets on Make Way Day, which is taking place on Thursday September 26.

The groups will provide friendly reminders not to:

• Park on the footpath
• Forget your bins or use illegal sandwich boards
• Carelessly park bikes on the street

People with disabilities have told the campaign leaders, the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) that these are the top three obstacles that stop them getting from A to B.

Speaking about the initiative, Fingal County Council’s Access Officer Brian Buckley said: “By making these small changes we can all make a big difference to the lives of our fellow citizens. We are delighted to once again support Make Way Day.”

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Eoghan O’Brien said: “I am delighted to see that Fingal County Council is continuing with its involvement in Make Way Day. It is important that awareness is raised among the general public that their behaviour can cause difficulties for those with disabilities.”

The towns and groups taking part are: Centre for Independent Living Blanchardstown, Clonakilty Access Group, Mallow Disability Group, groups from Rehab’s training facility in Sandymount and children and parents from Enable Ireland, Kilkenny. People can expect to see Make Way Day stickers reminding them to make way for people with disabilities.

You can also expect a blitz of social media posts (videos, photographs) with the hashtags #MakeWayDay and #MakeWayFingal. Everyone can get involved. Upload your photos and videos of obstacles on our streets and call for national recognition of #MakeWayDay on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“It’s a lack of awareness that leads to these obstacles and once people are aware, we find they’re willing to help”, said DFI spokesperson Clare Cronin. “For the small minority who need it, we are delighted this year to have the backing of the Roads Policing unit of An Garda Síochána.”

Please see https://www.disability-federation.ie/about/publications.html to find out the number of people in your area with disabilities.

Ends

Notes to the Editor:

Photos: DFI can supply national photos but will not have photos from the areas taking part.
 

The Disability Federation of Ireland are the co-coordinators of Make Way Day.  For communications, local authorities should contact Clare Cronin at DFI 01-7080108, 086-0277824 or email [email protected] .

See www.makewayday.com for more information including an updated list of events taking place.

Background - Make Way Day  

The reaction to the first campaign in 2017 was phenomenal. Make Way Day was viewed by over 750,000 people online and featured on RTE TV news throughout the day. A number of local and national radio shows, newspapers and online magazines also ran the story.

Within 48 hours, 8,000 people had signed an online petition to make #MakeWayDay a national event.

DFI circulated a motion to local authorities calling for them to support a Make Way Day in their area in 2018.

The campaign was awarded the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, PRII, Public Awareness Campaign 2018.

This year 22 local authorities have passed motions in support, most are actively campaigning on the day and a further six have motions of support pending.

Dublin City Council moved this month to ban illegal sandwich boards on the streets of the capital as a direct result of the awareness raising in the campaign.

The Roads section of An Garda Síochána have come out in support. The participating charities are; Enable Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association( IWA), Rehab and the National Council for the Blind (NCBI)
Check in to the site for updates in the coming weeks on what is happening and where.