Eibhlín

Gaeilgeoir, librarian, open water swimmer, gig organiser, mamó, disability advocate

[Flick Williams @flickhwilliams]

A wheelchair using friend had a bus access refusal & was left behind in scorching 26 degree heat with no shade 🥵 Bus was empty apart from woman with child in pushchair in the wheelchair space whom driver did not ask to move. I’m coming for you again First Bus.

[Geraldine McAuley 🇮🇪 @geraldineire]

A young girl has lost her cochlear implant on curracloe beach Wexford this weekend. It seems someone may have found it as it’s last location has pinged on this map. If anyone has it, finds it or hears where it is please do get in touch. Thanks

[Care Champions Ireland @CareChampions2]

This is 79-year-old Robert Thompson from Bray. Robert is completely blind, but until recently, he has managed to live a highly independent life with the help of his brilliant guide dog, Rhona.

But right now, Wicklow County Council is failing him, and the entire visually impaired community.

For years, the audible signals at pedestrian crossings across Bray have been faulty. Recently, things have gone from bad to worse. The critical audio signals that tell Robert where the crossing pole is (the "wait" sound) and when it is actually safe to cross (the "go" sound) have stopped working entirely on busy routes near his home.

"There’s no way I would cross that road without the sound," Robert says. "It’s just too dangerous."

To make matters worse, recent changes to the local Dublin bus network (replacing the old 145 route with the E1 spine) mean his usual handy bus stops are gone. Because the council has left the nearby pedestrian signals broken, Robert can no longer cross the street safely at his local stop.

Robert is now forced to get off the bus early and walk a massive, grueling 1.5 kilometers EACH WAY along a highly dangerous, busy stretch of road just to find a single working crossing.

Robert has contacted Wicklow County Council repeatedly. They have acknowledged his complaints, but they have met him with absolute silence regarding any actual repairs.

Basic mobility and safety should be a right, not a luxury. By ignoring these broken signals for years, the council is effectively trapping vulnerable residents in their own towns and actively stripping away their independence.

Please SHARE this post! Let’s get the word out and force Wicklow County Council to do their job, fix the audio signals in Bray, and restore safety and freedom to Robert and others who rely on them!

#WicklowCountyCouncil #AccessibilityMatters #Bray #Inclusion #GuideDogsIreland #RobertThompson

https://t.co/2x43RYro4E

[Eibhlín @eibhlinnic]

@yousef_ki1 .

[Lily Craven @TheAttagirls]

Woman of the Day Anna Sewell born OTD in 1820 in Great Yarmouth, author of Black Beauty, her only novel and still one of the top ten books for children today. She wrote for an adult audience hoping to convince them of the importance of the humane treatment of animals.

Anna’s parents were Quakers. When she was two, her father’s shop failed and they moved to London but money was tight. Anna and her brother Philip were initially home-schooled by their mother and frequently sent to stay with their grandparents on the Dudwick Farm estate in Buxton, Norfolk. It was here that Anna first learnt to ride - she was a keen rider - and it is almost certainly the inspiration for Birtwick Park in Black Beauty.

When Anna was fourteen, she fell while walking home from school in the rain and badly injured both ankles. Medical mistreatment followed and she was left severely disabled for the rest of her life. As a result, she would often get around using a pony and trap and, always a keen observer of the natural world, increasingly relied on horses to help her get around. Her mother said, “She learned all their secrets.”

Anna gained an incredibly accurate understanding of how life must look and feel to horses, simply through observation, experience, awareness and empathy.

In 1871, she began her ‘little novel’, crafting it over six years, sometimes dictating it from her sick bed to her mother when she was too poorly to write herself. Her mother recorded it on little slips of paper. The book is written entirely from the point of view of Beauty, a former carriage horse who "breaks his knees" (damages his carpal joints) after a bad fall - rather like Anna herself - and is sold off to a series of owners, some cruel, some kind. Subtitled The Autobiography of a Horse, it broke new literary ground as one of the first novels to describe the world through the eyes of an animal.

Black Beauty was a compelling advocate for animal welfare. Beauty tells us that “those who have never had a bit in their mouths, cannot think how bad it feels.” His friend Ginger describes the physical effects of the bearing rein, used on carriage horses to keep their heads unnaturally upright because it was fashionable: "It is dreadful... your neck aching until you don't know how to bear it...it hurts my tongue and my jaw and the blood from my tongue covered the froth that kept flying from my lips.”

Anna’s novel was pirated in the USA and sold as Uncle Tom’s Cabin for Horses, where it was seen as a striking metaphor for slavery and freedom.

“Never whip a horse for shying: he shies because he is frightened and you only frighten him more and make the habit worse.”

Anna sold her book to Norwich publisher Jarrolds in 1877 for a one-off payment of £40 (£3,860 in today’s sterling). To date, over 50 million copies have sold worldwide.

The book achieved its objective. Soon after its publication in 1877, the Anti-Bearing Rein Association was formed to try to stop the practice of using such reins, and the cause was also taken up by the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Bearing reins began to fall out of fashion.

Anna, bedridden and in severe pain, died just five months after its publication. She was 57.

“If we could act a little more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many things work easier.”

[Dr Tom Clonan @TomClonan]

Ireland’s SHAME -Govt Are Failing Our #Disabled Children -Our Children Dying For Want Of Timely Intervention -We Are Forced To Tell Our Stories Of Pain & Loss & Trauma & Moral Injury -And Still, This Ableist State Assigns A Lesser Human Value To Us As #Carers & #Disabled Citizens

[Paul Treyvaud @PaulTreyvaud]

This is an absolute national disgrace.

Mothers of Ireland, this is what Dublin Zoo thinks of you.

‘Mammies go free’ for Mother’s Day and this is the picture they use to promote it

Who in the name of god signed off on this. They probably think, well everyone will share it so the whole country will be talking about us

Perhaps, but not for the right reasons

It’ll be interesting to see when they come looking for donations because footfall drops.

This is simply beyond disgraceful

[Dr Tom Clonan @TomClonan]

We need to shout STOP to the removal of the Triple Lock - the Govt have set their face against the will of the irish people - At The WORST Possible Time For Ireland & The UN - Please Listen & Share

[Mick Wallace @wallacemick]

Gaels Against Genocide are holding a 'Drop Allianz Campaign' protest at 11.00am this Saturday at Croke Park. "Either we are family led, grassroots with morals + integrity or we're Corporate sellers who are happy to fund Genocide" - @brendandevenney ...

[Dr Tom Clonan @TomClonan]

Just 1 DAY TO GO! CALLING ALL GRADUATES -FROM IRISH UNIVERSITIES & TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITIES -Deadline 26 Feb -Register To Vote -Go To https://t.co/WHRgkvMk9N -Register Today -To Vote in New Seanad University Constituency -Strong Independent Voice On #Neutrality & Social Justice

[Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird @niamhnih]

Today, I was among a group of 5 advocates with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) who traveled to Leinster House to talk to TDs and Senators about our rare disease, and to advocate for the reimbursement of Skyclarys (omaveloxolone), the only drug to treat FA.

[Dr Tom Clonan @TomClonan]

2 DAYS TO GO! CALLING ALL GRADUATES -FROM IRISH UNIVERSITIES & TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITIES -Deadline 26 Feb -Register To Vote -Go To https://t.co/WHRgkvMk9N -Register Today -Make Your Vote Count in New Seanad University Constituency -For Strong Independent Voices in Troubled Times

[Enda Wyley @endawyley]

Looking forward to reading with Christine Dwyer Hickey and Hugo Hamilton at Books Upstairs Feb 22nd @ 2pm. @HachetteIre @dedaluspress

[Eibhlín @eibhlinnic]

@frankcottrell_b Thank you for this. I love The Wizard of Eartsea. Bookmarked.

[Rob O'Hanrahan @RobOHanrahan]

A valuable flute went missing yesterday from the owner's bike on the way to a lunchtime session in Cassidy's in Camden St. It has huge sentimental value and a reward has been offered.

If anyone sees it, please send a DM.

RTs appreciated.

[Access For All Ireland @AccessForAll7]

🚨 It’s a case again that online information does not matchup with station screens.

Nowhere online can we find out why or if Kishoge is out of service but it is.

@IrishRail @TFIupdates @DarraghOBrienTD @mulvanypeopleb1 @adayinmywheels @fussireland @IrishWheelchair @CarersIreland @InclusionIre @StMichaelsHouse @struggleiswheel

[Don @Cashel Woods @cashelwoods]

Dennis O Driscoll from Exemplary Damages ⁦@AnvilPress⁩ #poetry

[Tramp Press @TrampPress]

Kildare Readers Festival: Editors' Panel
Fri 10 Oct 7pm, Naas Library
Join us at @kildarereadersfestival with the marvellous Lisa McInerney for a chat about the roles of editors and publishers. Book here: https://t.co/EzkiYDh6mb

[Ounka @OunkaOnX]

One global sumud flotilla's boat has reached in Gaza waters successfully

[Kieran Andrieu @kieran_andrieu]

All of our boats are still sailing - and we are so close now!

We are nearing 110 nautical miles from Gaza, around the point at which the Madleen was intercepted in June.

Some of us managed to sleep a bit this morning. This is important, because Israel is probably deliberately trying to drive us to exhaustion.

We believe the Spanish navy is still nearby, although Italy has left. It’s reportedly keeping some distance, but planning to continue to 24 miles from the coast of Gaza 🍉🍉

We feel calm and determined.