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Equal footingNoonan believesclients would feelfreer to speak to ‘peeradvocates’ who alsohave intellectualdisabilities

This is what I do

Iwent to a special needs school inKilkenny until I was eight, then to amainstream school, St Patrick’s. Afterthird year, I was told there was no pointin going on because I wouldn’t pass theLeaving Certificate. Today I am a self-advocate, representing clients of servicesfor people with intellectual disabilities.After school I ended up working in a

Rehab workshop, which I didn’t like, butit was better than the dole. We got €10on top of the disability allowance, but itwas like jail. We were treated like second

class citizens. Wemade cardboard boxes.It was monotonous and the warehousewas freezing. There was a lot of dust andI got an autoimmune disorder.Then I got a chance to educate myself

at the National Learning Network, whichprovides adult education to people withintellectual disabilities. An instructor gotme interested in self-advocacy and I dida leadership and advocacy course atWaterford Institute of Technology. I was40 when I did the course, I’m 43 now.Over the past two years I’ve done work

experience with Inclusion Ireland, thenational association for people with anintellectual disability. I can only work twodays a week because of my disability, butI would love to study for a diploma insocial care and advocacy. For three years

I’ve also been the public relations officerfor Seasamh, a self-advocacy group runby and for people with intellectualdisabilities in the southeast.Inclusion Ireland was given funding by

philanthropic funder Genio to carry outa pilot programme of workshops in thedisability services. The self-advocates atInclusion Ireland and Seasamhwere askedto be the trainers. Our job was to go intothe services and tell the clients how theHealth Information and QualityAuthority (Hiqa) works in their favour.Those places would scare the life out of

you. Many clients are institutionalisedand frightened of staff. In one place I toldthe clients: “If it wasn’t for us, they [thestaff] wouldn’t have their jobs.” I couldsee the shock in their faces. But it had tobe said. We know what’s happening; wecan sense it. The staff are controlling thewhole situation. We can’t give theseworkshops unless the service invites us.We have an institutionalised medical

model for people with intellectualdisabilities in Ireland, not the social modelwe want. We should have a say in howservices are run. There should be self-advocates on services’ boards of directors.After the workshops, we went to Hiqa

with feedback and asked them to followthe British model, where people withintellectual disabilities are hired to go withthem when they are inspecting services.Clients won’t speak to management, butwhen we go in, they speak to us quicker.It’s called peer advocacy. Hiqa loved theidea, but said it is not funded to do that.

Interview by Kate Butler

Adrian Noonan, self-advocate

Fergal Phillips

Vampire diariesThe only job I ever had that was nearly as good aswriting, was being a performer/serving wench atDracula’s Vampire Cabaret on The Gold Coast inAustralia almost 10 years ago. I met incrediblepeople and I got to act the absolute eejit six days aweek in full vamp costume. This photo was takenon my last night. I am the “Hot Fuzz” in question.

This is who I am

Kate Winter’s debutnovel, The Happy EverAfterlife of RosiePotter (RIP), is asunconventional, funnyand romantic as sheis, writes Kate Butler.The Sligo-born writerspent her early yearstravelling throughEurope and Africawith her Zimbabwean,artist mother, butcame back to settle inthe west, where shelives in Strandhill inCo Sligo.

Kate Winter, novelistJames Connolly

Filling in the blanksI’m a hoarder of notebooks. I love thescratch of pen on paper. Sometimes Iwatch, as my hand skitters across thepage and I think, “Wow, what sorcery isthis?” I buy new notebooks all the timeand I’m far too impatient to wait untilI’ve finished one to move on to the nextset of pretty, pristine blank pages. So,I have piles and piles of them.

Punch bagI don’t do designer labels at all, but I do havea weakness for Italian leather, and Ana Fayehandbags in particular, because the designer,Anna Vahey is a friend of mine. I can see thepain written all over her face when she meetsme and sees the treatment I mete out to herlovely creations.

Sense of an endingFinishing my first novel was such a thrill,especially seeing those first-draft pagespiled on top of one another — a real livebook, written by me.I was delighted todiscover last month,as I typed the lastline of my newnovel, that it feelsjust as good thistime round. Maybeeven better, actually.

Muddy greatThere’s a reason I live in the countryside. I hunger for timein nature and I need to get away from the computer atleast once a day. These wellies were a gift from my friendJessie Smith, years ago, and they continue to serve me sowell. They allow me to stomp through the mud to myheart’s content, in search of a perfect spot to whip outa trusty notebook. They are always filthy.