Damien joined ILMI in October 2017 and has over 15 years experience in equality and human rights organisations, including the Irish Traveller Movement, the Equality and Rights Alliance and Aontas. Damien is keen to bring previous experience of actively engaging and supporting people to work collectively in to ILMI to ensure that people with disabilities see ILMI as a vehicle for change to bring about equality in Irish society.
Nina joined ILMI in 2011 to work on what was then called the Strasbourg Freedom Drive now the Brussels Freedom Drive and has worked on many other projects where she helped coordinate the communications and event management, including the Mansion House “Meet your TD” event where ILMIs and their members from around the country came to speak with their local representative. Nina also worked on the Personal Assistance Bill project and the Disability Studies course run in conjunction with NUI Maynooth.
With a background in corporate communications and marketing a degree in Graphic Design and Fine Art Nina has a diverse range of experience and skills and bring them all to the Irish Independent Living movement. The ILMI eBulletin, the ILMI Social media accounts and maintaining links with and building the ILMI membership are part of her day to day work.
Finance/Office Administrator
My name is Elaine and I have recently joined the team at ILMI as Finance/Office Administrator.
I bring over 18 years office experience and have worked within the community sector for 14 years. I am delighted to be part of such an important and worthwhile movement and I am here to assist and support the team whichever way I can.
DPO Development Officer
Peter started work with ILMI in June 2019 as ONSIDE Project Coordinator. Peter graduated from Trinity College in the late 1980s with an English Honours degree and followed this with an MA in Film & TV Studies at DCU and a Higher Diploma in Adult & Community Education from Maynooth College. He also has higher Dips. in Disability Studies and Arts European Mentoring.
Peter lectured at St. Angela’s College (NUIG) and has written-up QQ1-Level 8 & 9 Modules promoting a need for a Emancipatory-Advocacy way of thinking & practice for & with disabled people. In the mid 1990’s Peter established THE WORKHOUSE, a disability consultancy company involved in equality/mentor/arts training in Ireland, Europe and Asia. In terms of linking social model led disability equality with effective practice on the ground, Peter was a Community Support Consultant with Disability Equality Specialist Support Agency (DESSA) and Development & Policy Worker with Forum of People With Disabilities. He is also a writer/dramatist, documentary & film maker. Peter also enjoys extreme trekking and has two children Deirbhile & Oisin and lives in Co. Leitrim.
Fiona Weldon joined ILMI in November of this year and has over 30 years of experience in working in the Disability Sector. All of her work is motivated by the reality of the effects of segregation, exclusion and non-disabled professionalism. Henceforward promoting the need for a Rights Based Model of Support to people that are labelled disabled (as opposed to our current resource based model of support that is dominated by both the Medical Model of Disability and the Charity Model of Disability) that is driven by both the Social Model of Disability and the Philosophy of Independent Living as professed by the Disabled People’s Movement.
Fiona’s initial work in this sector involved setting up a local Independent Living Service offering Personal Assistance to local disabled people that wanted more choice and more control over the human supports that they needed to assist them with their daily living tasks.
Fiona holds an MA in Disability Studies, Diploma’s in Community Development, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Counselling Skills. She also holds Certificates in other subjects including Advanced Facilitation, Equality Studies, Social Care, Reality Therapy, Assistive Technology and Supported Self-Directed Living.
Fiona has worked for the National Institute for Intellectual Disability (NIID) in Trinity College, NUI Maynooth and the National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in Dublin City University. Her work here involved evaluating/researching and/or delivering evidence based Bespoke Training Programmes that purposely intended to enable disabled people to believe in themselves to want better lives. This work has both travelled nationally and internationally.
VOICE Community Development Worker
Paula started working with ILMI in January 2022 as a Community Development Worker for the VOICE project. She identifies as a proud disabled woman and advocate since discovering the social model of disability when she attended ILMI’s 2019 AGM.
She has a Joint BA from Maynooth University, A HDip in Drama Education from Griffith College, Dublin, and she is studying Disability Equality in St Angela’s College Sligo.
She is very passionate about the social model of disability and the importance of disabled people’s lived experience through a social model perspective to bring about positive social change.
She understands the importance of online spaces that help build community and empower disabled activists to create social change as she is an active member in ILMI, also.
She wants disabled people to feel confident and in control of their lives and ensure that they are reaching their full potential in their communities.
VOICE community development worker
I first heard about the independent living movement in the early nineties when I attended an event organised by a group of Dublin-based disabled activists. My public health nurse volunteered with the Irish Wheelchair Association and had seen a poster.
I was living with my Parents in the countryside at that time and it was life-changing for me to hear disabled people articulating what I had felt intuitively i.e. Disabled people had the right to self-determination and to pursue the same aspirations as their non-disabled peers. Prior to that meeting, I hadn’t heard about the concept of Personal Assistance and it was the missing link I had been waiting for.
After graduating from UCC with a degree in social science, I worked in CORK CIL for approx. 20 years where I saw the significant and positive impact that Personal Assistance made in disabled people’s lives. The PA Service is one part of the jig saw that makes independent living possible. There is an interconnected importance of housing, personal assistance, transport, and an accessible physical environment in terms of achieving independent living. For those elements to be in place requires a commitment to and understanding of the social model of disability.
I also worked with Northside Community Enterprises as a CE Supervisor, supporting long-term unemployed people to gain the skills to access mainstream employment.”
Michael Seifu, PhD, is an avid advocate and activist for the rights of disabled people. He is a strong adherent of the UN CRPD as a key tool to further disabled people’s rights for equality and social justice.
Michael is a professional economist with a rich work experience in both academic research and in government. He holds the view that it is imperative for disabled people to be able to shape public policies through their representative disabled persons’ organisations.
Michael is currently a member of the Disability Advisory Committee of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Additionally, Michael is serving as a member of the Housing and Disability Steering Group of South Dublin County, and of the Clondalkin Local Implementation Group of Slaintecare Healthy Communities.
Michael is cognisant of the fact that our individual lived experiences as disabled people is a function of multiple identities interacting simultaneously. As such, he is very eager to ensure such intersectionality reflected not only in public policy but also in the policies and operations of disabled people’s organisations.
ILMI Policy Assistant
I joined the ILMI team in January 2021 as policy assistant intern. My role involves working alongside James Cawley, policy officer on various projects and research.
Over the last year I have participated in many projects and groups such as ILMI’s housing network. The ILMI housing network was designed to assist disabled people to become active and effective members of their HDSGs. As the National housing policy for disabled people 2022-2027 was launched, it is important to have disabled peoples’ voices at the table.
It is really exciting time to be working for a DPO like Independent Living Movement Ireland whose vision and mission is an Ireland where disabled people have freedom choice and control over all aspects of our lives and be seen as equals in society.
In 2018 I graduated with an B.Sc. honours degree in Applied Biology and Biopharmaceutical Science from GMIT. As a very proud Disabled woman who faced some of the barriers encountered by many disabled people. It is personally very rewarding and fulfilling to work for an organisation who embraces the social model of disability and be a part of such a dynamic hard-working team.
I believe it is fundamentally important that disabled people are involved in a meaningful, authentic way in all facets of Society with our contributions valued and our rights respected.
Community Development Worker
Community Development Worker
Boakai Abu Nyehn, Jr joined ILMI in September 2024 as community development worker on the Disability Participation Awareness Fund (DPAF) funding project “Engaging Disabled People in Direct Provision” . He is a passionate advocate for disability rights, social inclusion, and development, with extensive experience in working to promote the rights and full participation of disabled people in Liberia. Boakai has served as a consultant on disability and social inclusion for numerous national and international agencies. He has also worked as a Research Assistant on multiple projects with organisations such as Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre at University College London, Talking Drum Studio, AIFO-Liberia, and UNMIL, ensuring that disabled people’s needs and perspectives are integrated into their programs.
As a disabled person, Boakai’s lived experience informs his leadership as Assistant Director for disabled people in Liberia. His role focuses on advocating for the inclusion of disabled people at all levels of society, promoting accessible development, and advancing the rights of the community. Boakai holds certifications in International Law and related fields and is a skilled Administrator and Assistive Technology Specialist, committed to using his expertise to create a more inclusive society for all.
Pippa is a blow-in from New Zealand, who has been living in County Sligo since 2008. She joined the ILMI team in October 2024 to assist with the development of the Donegal Disabled Persons’ Organisation (DPO) having worked as a founding member, secretary, and co-PRO of the Sligo DPO on a voluntary basis for the previous two years.
After completing a law degree and a BA in Sociology in New Zealand, most of Pippa’s working life has been home educating their four children. Pippa and her partner use an autonomy-based approach that centres the voices of the children and young people as the experts of their own experiences and needs and as equal voices in family decision-making.
As the children started to move on to third level education, Pippa began volunteering in the community and with the Public Participation Network (PPN) as part of their Social Inclusion college. This involved representing the college on the Housing and Corporate Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), Co-chairing the PPN Housing Thematic Network, co-producing housing position papers, founding the Autism Friendly Sligo Committee and Neurodiversity Sligo, serving as the Inclusion Officer for Sligo Pride and working to help establish the Sligo DPO.
Pippa also returned to school on a part-time basis and is now half way through the LLM in international comparative disability law and policy. Pippa was selected for an internship to the 31st Session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in August 2024. She is passionate about seeing the Convention fully realised in Ireland and is excited about bringing disabled people together, raising consciousness about the social model of disability and human rights, and helping to create the representative organisations that are essential for the realisation of these rights.
Community Development Worker, Sligo DPO
Aisling joins ILMI as Community Development Worker for Sligo Disabled Person’s Organisation. She became interested in developing a local Disabled Person’s Organisation when she became a member of the Independent Living Movement Ireland (ILMI). Aisling is a founding member and treasurer of Sligo DPO She is a strong believer in the importance of the social model and the authentic voice of disabled people and their lived experience being heard. Most importantly she believes “we as disabled people should be consulted directly in relation to issues that impact us”. This is how we can make a change towards dismantling the societal barriers that exist. She has a degree in Applied Social Studies from ATU Sligo formerly IT Sligo and an MSC in Disability Equality Studies from St Angela’s College Sligo.
Community Development Worker, Meath
Thomas joined the ILMI in 2019 and was immediately taken with the organization. He had been with numerous disability organisations in the past but knew the ILMI was different. He admittedly knew very little about disability rights or indeed the language around disability. This all changed when he completed the Strategies for Change course with the ILMI. He found out about the history of disability in Ireland and indeed the extreme inequality surrounding it.
Since completing the course, he has been an avid supporter of disabled people’s rights and is looking to improve the lives of disabled people in his local community. He knows how powerful local communities can be when they come together but believes that more education is needed to bring about meaningful change.
He knows great work has been done over the years but knows that this must continue. Organisations and authorities must be challenged and brought to account when they do not follow the UNCRP mandate.
