Sign the #MakeWayDay petition

September 26 2017, 12:35pm

If;

your car is parked on a footpath blocking the way,
you’re a business owner who’s left a sandwich board out creating an obstacle,
you’re bicycle is chained to a lamppost creating a trip hazard for a person with a disability,

expect a friendly sticker on #MakeWayDay, Tuesday 26th Sept., reminding you to make way for people with disabilities.

Thirteen of the country’s lead disability organisations have come together to call for an All-Ireland “#MakeWayDay”. On one day a year they’d like the people of Ireland to pause and think of people with disabilities in the public spaces we all share. They believe thoughtlessness and genuine lack of awareness is behind most instances like those listed.

In fact the three examples above are the top three recorded by people with disabilities themselves in over-90 videos submitted in the lead-up to today. Compilations highlights from the videos will be shared on social media with the hashtag, #MakeWayDay. All over Ireland people took out their mobile phones to show how a badly parked car can be the end of a journey for a person in a motorized wheelchair. (These cannot get on and off kerbs.)

The full list is below, ranked in order of most frequent encounters:

1. Cars parked on footpaths (25%)

2. Sandwich boards/signs on the footpath (18%)

3. Bikes/mopeds & motorbikes tied to lampposts/railings (16%)

4. Wheelie Bins on footpaths (14%)

5. Overgrown hedges/Greenery/Floral arrangements (10%)

6. Others (17%)

Today any and all obstacles blocking the way will be hit with a guerilla campaign of stickers, reading: “Hey, this Block my Way” and “MakeWayDay.com”.

The twelve organisations endorsing the campaign, alongside the Disability Federation of Ireland are:

1. Arthritis Ireland

2. Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living

3. Central Remedial Clinic

4. ChildVision

5. Debra Ireland

6. Fighting Blindness

7. Greater Dublin Centre for Independent Living

8. Headway

9. Irish Wheelchair Association

10. MS Society

11. National Council for the Blind

12. Rehab

The campaign has also benefitted hugely from the involvement of DDFH&B and The Reputations Agency who are giving their time to this campaign free of charge.