Roscommon LEADER Partnership, in conjunction with Roscommon County Council, The Disability Federation of Ireland, Roscommon Older Peoples Council, County Roscommon Disability Support Group, Keadue Social Services, and the Brothers of Charity Roscommon, are coming together to hold a different type of ‘Make Way Day’ throughout the county this year, adhering to all Covid-19 guidelines.
A virtual meeting over Zoom will be held at 10.30 am on the morning of Friday, September 25th to launch the day. Cllr. Anthony Waldron will be launching the event and there will also be some guest speakers.
After the meeting, all involved in participating in the day will form in small groups/pods or in their own family units, and walk around their own town or local community, where they will observe and highlight barriers/obstacles to access for individuals with disabilities. They will take photographs of these barriers and send them to Roscommon LEADER Partnership.
You will be able to keep updated with these photos by following the Roscommon LEADER Partnership Facebook page on the day.
Following this, a group meeting will be held with the above organisations virtually to review all of the findings from the day. See makewayday.com for more including an updated list of events taking place.
Background
The reaction to the first campaign in 2017 was phenomenal. ‘Make Way Day’ was viewed by over 750,000 people online and featured on RTE TV news throughout the day. A number of local and national radio shows, newspapers and online magazines also ran the story.
Within 48 hours, 8,000 people had signed an online petition to make ‘#MakeWayDay’ a national event.
DFI circulated a motion to local authorities calling for them to support a ‘Make Way Day’ in their area in 2018.
The campaign was awarded the Public Relations Institute of Ireland, PRII, Public Awareness Campaign 2018.
This year, 29 local authorities have passed motions in support, and most are actively holding meetings on the day. The Roads section of An Garda Síochána have also come out in support.
The participating charities are IWA, Enable, NCBI, National Council for the Blind.
