On Monday December 3rd The Galway Centre for Independent Living jointly celebrated International Day of People with Disabilities, European Year of Equal Opportunities For All and the launch of their newly updated IT Learning Centre by holding a reception at their office in the Town Park Centre. This state of the art facility was officially opened by His Worship Mayor of Galway City Councillor Tom Costello who took the opportunity of testing the Learning Centre for himself and was delighted that such a facility is available in Galway.

An address on Disability and Equality Law by was given by Ms. Shivaun Quinlivan, Lecturer in Law at NUI Galway to an audience of those dedicated to promoting equality and rights for individuals with a disability or impairment.

Ms. Quinlivan spoke about the shift in thinking in recent years from charity to rights where “people with disabilities are not problems, they have rights and equally legitimate hopes and aspirations for their lives” and that while there are National, European and International influences via legislation; “it is important that we don’t forget what drives the change at that level and they are local influences. When we want to see independent living projects in practice then we need not look to the international treaties, but to groups like the Galway Centre for Independent Living. GCIL in their practices live the ideal of promoting equal opportunities, they do so by providing people a chance to gain a qualification in technology, this in turn offers people the opportunity to pursue a career and an income, which is the key to independence and so to have a real choice in life”. Ms. Quinlivan also said that “People often ask for examples of how equality can be made to work in practice and again I have to say it’s a matter of looking to the work of groups like GCIL to see this work in practice.”

The Learning Centre now has ten state of the art computers with 22 inch monitors together with the most recent software and hardware specifically designed for use by individuals with a disability or impairment. The facility is also available to groups or individuals and is one of GCIL’s methods of generating revenue to support other services offered by the orgainisation, primarily the Personal Assistant Service on which the ethos and philosophy of Independent Living is founded.

The Chairperson of Galway Centre for Independent Living said that “while in general things have improved for people it is our goal that by the provision of this facility we can continue to bridge the divide between those who have access to technology and those who don’t, and this will further open the door to knowledge and lifelong learning”.

For further information on any service provided by Galway Centre for Independent Living please contact the office on: 091 773910 or info@gcil.com