The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by human beings for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison people because they are different from others. 
President Lyndon B. Johnson

Last Friday, Pádraig exercised again his right and used this most powerful instrument to destroy the terrible walls which imprison people because they are different from others.

There used to be times when everybody could vote, except if you were a woman; when you had a right to education, except if you were black; a right to an intimate relationship, except if you were gay.

The time has come to afford everybody the right to fully participate in society, even if you have a severe brain injury.

I went to Düsseldorf last week to contribute to the Annual Congress of the German Society of Neurorehabilitation, sharing aspects of the outstanding work being done at the An Saol Foundation for a group of people who up to now had been left behind. Together with colleges from the An Saol Foundation, University College Dublin, and Byowave, I had prepared details of our work with the rack project, the implementation of WHO guidelines, and the use of computer games by some of our clients.i

Arriving at Düsseldorf, I realised that Mary Robinson had been on the same flight. Will I or won’t I…? In the end I didn’t. It was too early for all, it would have been totally out of the blue, and a little inappropriate.

I left my bag in the hotel which had a great view of the Düsseldorf soccer stadium which, to my amazement, had a roof! The walk to the conference centre along the river Rhine cleared my head which, for the next couple of days, never really stopped spinning.

In the middle of it all, Prof Jörg Willis, a distinguished member of the An Saol Foundation’s Clinical Advisory Committee and a long-standing friend of the An Saol Foundation, received the 2024 distinguished member’s prize by the Association.

This year, people started to take note of the incredible developments that are taking place in Ireland.

Our initiatives, as small as they still are, seem to be leading the way in the development and the delivery of rehabilitation and habilitation services for those with long-term and severe brain injuries.

There is nothing that will stop us from breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison people because they are different from others. And not just on voting day.