Never Know Your Place by Martin Naughton

Never Know Your Place by Martin Naughton

Every young person is looking for freedom, but some have to fight harder than others … In 1960s Ireland there was a special place for disabled children: behind the walls of an institution, cut off from the rest of society. At just nine years old, Martin Naughton was one of these children. Along with his younger sister Barbara he was sent to a Dublin institution, far away from his Irish-speaking home in Spiddal. But Martin wouldn’t be sidelined. With the help of some unexpected characters – and an unlikely encounter with his Celtic Football heroes – he began to change the way a generation of young disabled people saw themselves. This is the story of a boy who not only won his own independence, but also led the fight for freedom for all disabled people. ‘Martin was a formidable and tireless campaigner for the right of people with disabilities to live in their own communities and homes.’ President Michael D. Higgins ‘Martin Naughton was a protector, a leader, a gamechanger. In reading this narration of his life, tears filled my eyes.’ Dr Rosaleen McDonagh, playwright, rights activist and author of Unsettled.

simply by bringing Never Know Your Place to completion, Marsden keeps his experiences, ideas and activism alive, the last of which has informed a new generation of activistsSo long as that is remembered, Naughton will always be alive in Irish life

-- Sarah Caden, Sunday Independent

a great education for anyone

-- RTE Radio 1’s Brendan O’Connor show

Martin Naughton’s unsparing words in his memoir about his childhood in an institution capture Irish society’s attitude for most of the 20th century towards children with disabilities. The arc of Never Know Your Place tracks how his early experiences in St Mary’s residential hospital in Baldoyle fundamentally informed his political instincts and set him on a path of radical activism. Naughton’s memoir is a candid, touching account of an indomitable campaigner for the rights of people with disabilities. He led a movement that secured significant social change in Ireland in 1995 when it won State-funded personal assistance (PA) services, a groundbreaking achievement that gave thousands of people with disabilities the chance to live independently

-- Irish Examiner

brilliant and thought provoking book, 5/5 … definitely a top 3 favourite book of the year … well done Joanna on co-writing an amazing book, there is literally no other words to describe the book than amazing … it’s really motivated me to keep fighting for better rights for people with disabilities and to make Ireland more accessible and inclusive for people like me

-- Emma Ward

Martin Naughton (1954–2016) was a disabled activist from Spiddal, County Galway, who lived most of his life in Baldoyle in north Dublin. Having experienced institutionalisation and fought hard for his freedom, he became a life-long advocate for the right of disabled people to live independently. Through his personal friendships with American activists, he was instrumental in spreading the Independent Living movement to Ireland, and in the mid-1990s he led the landmark political campaign for Personal Assistant services. His later achievements include founding the ‘ENIL Freedom Drive’, a biennial event which brings disabled people from Europe together in Brussels to highlight the right to Independent Living.

Joanna Marsden is a writer and independent radio documentary-maker who lives in Dún Laoghaire. She writes for publications including The Irish Times and got to know Martin when she interviewed him for a book about how life had changed for disabled people in Ireland. Her projects include making documentaries for Newstalk and RTÉ Lyric FM, and contributing to TULCA Festival of Visual Arts.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9781788494526
ISBN 10	1788494520
Titel	Never Know Your Place
Autor	Martin Naughton
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	O'Brien Press Ltd
Erscheinungsjahr	2024-03-11
Seitenanzahl	208
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar