Never Know Your Place by Martin Naughton

Never Know Your Place by Martin Naughton

In 1960s Ireland there was a special place for disabled children: behind the walls of an institution, cut off from the rest of society. Martin Naughton was one of those children, but he refused to be sidelined. With the help of some unexpected characters, he began to change the way a generation of young disabled people saw themselves.

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	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781788494526
ISBN 10	1788494520
Title	Never Know Your Place
Author	Martin Naughton
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	O'Brien Press Ltd
Year published	2024-03-11
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.