My Way Access

28/03/2026

This is a warning.

A disabled man died being transferred onto a plane.

Not because of his condition. Because the system failed.

If you’ve travelled as a wheelchair user, you know how close this can feel.

The rush.
The risk.
The reliance on others getting it right.

This exists in the UK and Ireland too.

We shouldn’t be relying on luck.

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27/03/2026

This isn’t a success story. It’s damage control.

Nursing support should never have been in doubt. It took pressure, fear and disruption to get to what should have been the baseline from the start.

Calling this a “workable solution” lowers the bar. Families don’t need workable. They need reliable, planned, and guaranteed support every single year.

Let’s be clear. This was not about sudden safety concerns. It was about years of failure to put a proper system in place.

Children were left in limbo. Families were left anxious. Staff were left carrying the risk.

Now we’re being told there will be “continued engagement” and a “future model.”

That should already exist.

The real test isn’t this summer being salvaged at the last minute. It’s whether this never happens again.

Because disabled children and their families should not have to fight every year for something so essential.

Following further engagement involving the Education Authority, the Department of Health and the Department of Education, the Department of Health has now been able to confirm that nursing support will be made available at each special school summer scheme site.

This represents a workable solution that will enable special school summer schemes to be held this year.

The overriding priority of everyone concerned remains the safety and well-being of children and young people, and EA will continue to work with special school principals to urgently prioritise planning for the summer schemes.

Engagement will also continue on developing and embedding a robust and stable model for year-round health care provision for special schools.

27/03/2026

Clocks go forward 1 hour on Sunday morning at 1am.

You lose an hour.

We lose routine.
Stability.
Control.

Missed meds.
Exhaustion.
Days thrown off.

It’s not about how much time you have.
It’s about how it affects others.

“Just an hour” isn’t small.

It’s the difference between coping and not.

26/03/2026

Not safety.
Failure
The Education Authority and Department of Health Northern Ireland knew.

They didn’t fix it.

Now disabled children lose out.

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25/03/2026

No matter how many times I've blocked Scott Mc Dowell, he always finds a way back to harrass me.

I wrote, what I felt, was a very emotional blog today about my experiences as an 11 year old in 1991, and how it shaped me into a 46 year old man.

Scott came in to stick the knife in me again, hoping I'd feel vulnerable. Vulnerable people can be pushed into emotional responses, some leading to extreme physical harm.

Thankfully, as I told my employer yesterday, I am starting to feel a lot stronger emotionally and physically these days, despite the increased physical pains I feel.

If I wasn't, who knows what Scott could have triggered me into doing.

25/03/2026

35 years ago today, I had major spinal surgery that changed the course of my life.

At the time, it was about survival. Looking back now, it shaped far more than my body. It shaped how I see the world, how I understand inclusion, and why I fight for disabled people today.

This is a personal reflection, but also a reminder of why lived experience matters.

Read more: cutt.ly/XtOGGQqq

22/03/2026

Disabled people need to hear this.

You’re not the problem.
The system is.

Your body. Your life. Your pace.

All valid.

This isn’t about sympathy.
It’s about rights, respect, and equality.

Watch this.

19/03/2026

Over 300 people have already signed, but we need many more before the consultation closes tomorrow.

We need your voices. Join us.

Please sign and share this petition widely. Deaf and Disabled people across Northern Ireland deserve more than a token gesture.

The current Draft Disability Strategy is woefully inadequate and fails to deliver the change our communities need.

We are calling on Executive Ministers to listen, work with Deaf and Disabled people, and produce a strategy that will genuinely improve our lives.

Add your name and share: 👇

I've signed this open letter calling on the NI Executive to revise the Draft Disability Strategy - will you add your name too?

16/03/2026

My Way Access has published a working draft of our response to the Northern Ireland Executive’s Draft Disability Strategy 2025–2035.

We were part of the original co-design group and believe Deaf and Disabled people deserve a strategy that delivers real change.

Read the draft response here: cutt.ly/WtUi8uBI

15/03/2026

My Way Access was part of the original co-design panel for the Disability Strategy.

So reading the current draft has been deeply frustrating and, if I’m honest, very disappointing.

Many across the disability sector feel exactly the same. Deaf and disabled people, organisations, advocates and families have spent years sharing our lived experience and helping shape what a meaningful strategy should look like.

We did that work in good faith. We believed it would lead to real change.

But this draft falls far short of what was promised. It reads like weak aspirations rather than a plan for real action.

Deaf and disabled people deserve more than warm words and empty promises. We deserve a strategy with clear commitments, accountability and outcomes that actually improve our lives.

If you believe Deaf and disabled people in Northern Ireland deserve better, please sign and share the petition.

Your voice matters. The more people who speak up, the harder it will be to ignore.

Please take a moment to sign and share.

I've signed this open letter calling on the NI Executive to revise the Draft Disability Strategy - will you add your name too?

15/03/2026

Mother’s Day can be joyful for some people and complicated for others.

Today I want to recognise disabled mothers who raise families while dealing with barriers society still throws in their way.

I also want to thank the mothers who stand beside disabled children and adults every day. Many of them become advocates, fighters and campaigners simply because the system leaves their loved ones behind.

And for many of us, Mother’s Day is also a day of remembrance. Thinking of the mothers who are no longer with us, but whose influence still shapes our lives.

Motherhood, disability and advocacy are deeply connected. Today we recognise them all.

08/03/2026

International Women’s Day celebrates equality.

But disabled women face ableism and sexism, and women carers are too often invisible.

Today I recognise disabled women and women carers.

Equality means all women.