2022 Make Way Day message: ‘Hey, this blocks my way!’

Westmeath County Council in conjunction with Westmeath Disability working group members organised events for the National Make Way Day 2022 Campaign, last Friday September 30.

Make Way Day is a campaign that brings the disability and wider community together to consider the needs of people with disabilities in public spaces.

It is led by the Disability Federation of Ireland and is a collaboration across voluntary and local government sectors, but it’s about people with disabilities.

Make Way Day is about making the public aware of an issue that is within their power to change. It’s about one coordinated and decisive day of action.

Leading the charge are people with disabilities, Westmeath County Council, Westmeath Community Development, Independent People with Disabilities, Athlone Access Awareness, Irish Wheelchair Association, Mental Health Mullingar, Airc Midlands and the local gardaí.

The organisations, armed with an online tool designed for Make Way Day, highlighted obstacles that block the way and complicate the lives of people with disabilities.

‘Hey, this blocks my way!’ is the message.

This year areas targeted in Westmeath were Mullingar, Athlone, Castlepollard, Kilbeggan, Rochfortbridge and Moate.

Breeda Hussey, a wheelchair user who was present at the launch of the day, told the Westmeath Examiner: “When I go down the town and there’s a car on the footpath, there’s nowhere for a wheelchair to go around – you just have to go back up the street and around the other side.

“People should be more aware of where they park. It’s not just wheelchair users, it’s elderly, it’s people with walking aids.

“This initiative highlights the issue, and there is sometimes an improvement after this day, but more can be done.”

Cllr Hazel Smyth, mayor of Mullingar, said: “This is a great opportunity to highlight the everyday blockages and hindrances that people with disabilities face around Westmeath, and beyond, and it is a reminder for all of us to be more mindful to allow for people with disabilities, who need access to footpaths like everybody else.”