'Our world and our politicians strive for equality, with little consideration for equity.' - PJ Cleere, Disability Federation of Ireland

We are delighted to bring you a question and answer session with PJ Cleere who leads the Community Development Programme in the Disability Federation of Ireland.  Our Communications Manager Brenda caught up with him for a five minute chat: 

Brenda: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

PJ: I’m married with two adult children and two grandchildren. I have worked in the youth and community sector as a volunteer and professional for over 40 years, and have been with DFI for 20 of those. I have lived experience of disability, and within my family. My main interests outside of work are having time with my family, gardening, DIY and reading history.  In particular I have a love for military and social history.     

Brenda: Can you explain what your role involves in DFI and some of the work that you do? 

PJ: I lead the Community Development Programme in DFI. The aim of this work is to support and promote understanding of the broader community among our members, and their role in that community.  We also work to provide the tools and resources to support members to construct and sustain self-advocacy within their organisations and develop strong internal partnerships with service users. Through a parallel process, we support self-advocates and member orgs to engage with their own communities and participate in local decision making. 

Brenda: What are your particular areas of focus? 

PJ: Working with a team of four colleagues, we are engaged in projects with local government, linking community and HSE reforms, the Self-Advocacy Programme in partnership with our members, front line staff and self- advocates, and the provision of training.     

Brenda: What are you looking forward to (workwise) in the coming months? 

PJ: The next few months are exciting. We are looking forward to completing a co-designed Members Self-Advocacy Toolkit which will be used to develop and sustain self-advocacy in member organisations. We are also working on the provision of e-learning for members, which is a major new development for DFI. As part of the e-learning project we have just completed a really interesting video series with disabled people called Understanding Disability which will be used as part of our e-learning. 

Brenda: What’s your favourite quote or motto? 

PJ: It’s hard to pick one or two quotes which I try to live and work by. But there is one that has always struck me as applicable to many situations I have encountered in life.  

As a child of the 1960’s I grew up surrounded by a world of active civil and armed strife, and the constant threat of nuclear war. But even then, I saw the difference between the macro issues and the very real issues happening on the ground around me. Inequality and the struggle for basic human rights have influenced me all my life. A key learning for me then was the difference between equality and equity, which has been the main focus of my life’s work.  You might ask, is equality not enough? What’s the difference?

The following quote really speaks to me and is applicable to many things in life, especially when it comes to disability.  

“Equality is giving everyone the same pair of shoes. Equity is giving everyone a pair of shoes that fits." — Author unknown. 

Equity is a recognition that different people and different circumstances call for the addition of different tools and resources so they can avail of being equal. That sense of being ‘ just like everyone else’. Our world and our politicians strive for equality, with little consideration for equity. Equity in disability terms comes in the shape of those home care services, PAs, accessible public transport, accessible technology, accessible work opportunities and training, etc. in fact all those supports that continue to be underfunded and disregarded as though they are luxuries which people can really do without. These are in fact the tools required for equity to be real, and which would give true meaning to the promise of real inclusion and equality.   

ENDS 

Thanks for chatting to us PJ! If you would like to get in touch with PJ, you can email him here. 

The cartoon of PJ was drawn by the man himself! We love it.