All Institute

A Matter of Trust: Accepting Artificial Intelligence and Robotics-Aided Care to Enhance Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities

Social Structures

Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute)

Matthew McKenna

The European Union (EU) is arguably emerging as a global leader in the ethical and human rights-based regulation and deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare, domestic and wider societal settings in the twenty-first century. On the 8^th of April 2019, the EU High-Level Expert Group on AI presented ‘Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence’. This followed the publication of the guidelines’ first draft in December 2018 on which more than five hundred comments were received through an open consultation.

According to the Guidelines, trustworthy AI should be:

(1) Lawful – Respecting all applicable laws and regulations

(2) Ethical – Respecting ethical principles and values

(3) Robust – Both from a technical perspective while taking into account its social environment

World Youth Skills Day – Reimagining Youth Skills Post-Pandemic

Social Structures

Author: Clíona de Bhailís is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy (CDLP), NUI Galway. She has received Irish Research Council funding for her research focusing on Article 12 UNCRPD and young people with disabilities. In her previous role she worked as a Research Assistant on the European Research Council funded ‘Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-determination (VOICES)’ project.

Clíona de Bhailís

In 2021 World Youth Skills Day celebrates the creativity and resilience of youth during the COVID 19 pandemic. Young people with disabilities have been particularly impacted by the crisis with schools and services closed, supports limited, and reopening creating additional barriers in accessing many public spaces. Through it all however, they have shown remarkable creativity, resilience and adaptability. This is despite not being consulted or at times even considered by decision makers.

The importance of participation in decision making is often mentioned when discussing research and policy which relates to children and young people. Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is well known in this regard and guarantees children who are ‘capable of forming a view’ the right to express their views on matters which affect them. Their views must then be given due weight based on the child’s age and maturity. The applicability of this right to children with disabilities is reinforced by Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) with two notable differences. These are the absence of the requirement for a child to be ‘capable of forming a view’ and an obligation on States Parties to provide ‘disability and age appropriate assistance’ to support disabled children and young people to express those views. Therefore, all children and young people, regardless of cognitive ability, should be allowed to express their views on matters affecting them, their views should be given due weight and they should have access to the support if necessary. Further, General Comment No. 7 of the UNCRPD clearly outlines that States Parties have a duty to consult with children and young people with disabilities and their representative organisations about policy development and the implementation of the Convention.

The Loud Silence on Disability and Sexuality; My perspective.

Social Lives

Author: Mohamed Maalim – PhD Researcher, of the ALL Institute, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Mohamed Maalim

11^thof July is celebrated as World Population day to highlight global issues on sexual and reproductive health and rights gender equality and the right to family life. Personally, as a husband and father to five children, am blessed and privileged to be able to exercise this fundamental human right to family life and family unity as enshrined in international and European human rights provisions. Many people, however, including people with disabilities, refugees, and others requiring international protection do not enjoy the right to adequate sexual and reproductive health in particular.

In this piece, I will discuss sexuality issues for people with disabilities from the perspectives of personal understanding and professional practice both as a research student and a registered Occupational Therapist. From an Occupational Therapy point of view, sexuality is considered an activity of daily living (ADL) by the American Association of Occupational Therapists. Occupational therapists may include sexuality as part of a routine evaluation of clients and address this area in occupational therapy interventions. Sexual activity and intimate social participation are part of meaningful occupational participation contributing to personal satisfaction while sharing intimate relationships may potentially impact one’s wellbeing and quality of life. Sexuality should not be misconstrued to mean only physical intimacy but as a holistic concept encompassing sexual activity, decisions, communication, identity, and choice.

Protecting and Promoting Legal Capacity of Persons with Disabilities: Disentangling the Relationship between the CRPD and International Private Law in the Italian Legal System

Social Structures

Author: Francesca Albi, J.D. Candidate – Università degli Studi di Verona (Italy)

Francesca Albi

Persons with disabilities represent human diversity and their inherent dignity must be recognised. In legal terms, the protection of human dignity is linked to the recognition and respect of the right to legal capacity, which is established by Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). According to this provision, persons with disabilities have the right to legally act on an equal basis with others. Even though they may need support and reasonable accommodations, disability cannot be used to justify the denial of the right of persons with disabilities to make their own choices concerning their lives. To this aim, supported (and not substituted) decision-making mechanisms must be provided to help them in decision-making processes.

Since international mobility of adults (including those with disabilities) is an increasing phenomenon in the contemporary globalized world, international human rights instruments acquire special relevance regarding the exercise of civil rights in transnational situations. In that connection private international law, which has been defined as ‘the body of conventions, model laws, national laws, legal guides, and other documents and instruments that regulate private relationships across national borders’, must be read in conjunction with international human rights norms. To this end, legal scholars (Franzina, 2012; Franzina, 2015; Franzina and Long, 2016, 106-177; Franzina, 2019; Long, 2013) who investigate the transnational protection of the rights of adults with disabilities speak of “integral approach” to identify the mutual influence of international human rights and private international law.

Day of the Seafarer

Social Structures

Author: Joanne McVeigh, Lecturer at the Department of Psychology and the ALL (Assisting Living & Learning) Institute, Maynooth University

Joanne McVeigh

June 25^th marks the Day of the Seafarer, an international campaign aiming to increase governments’ support for seafarers during the pandemic, but to also more broadly ensure fair treatment and equitable employment conditions for seafarers. We often fail to appreciate our reliance on the world’s 1,647,500 merchant seafarers for the effective functioning of the global economy. However, international trade is underpinned by maritime transport, whereby approximately 80% of the volume of global trade and 70% of the value of global trade are transported by sea. In the book Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate, British author Rose George questioned: “Who looks behind a television now and sees the ship that brought it? Who cares about the men who steered your breakfast cereal through winter storms? How ironic that the more ships have grown in size and consequence, the less space they take up in our imagination” (p. 2). Indeed, the importance of merchant shipping was brought into sharp focus by a container ship obstructing the Suez Canal in Egypt, through which more than 50 ships pass daily, constituting approximately 12% of world trade.

ALL Institute and the new HSE Digital Health Transformation Masters.

Social Structures

Authors: David Prendergast: Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Trevor Vaugh: PI at Mi:Lab, The Maynooth Innovation Lab and Assistant Professor in Department of Design Innovation, Linzi Ryan: Assistant Professor in Department of Design Innovation, Mac Maclachlan: Professor of Psychology and Social Inclusion, and Co-director of the ALL Institute

Image of a monitor in a casula office space - screen shows image of elderly persons hands resting on a walking stick on the top half white background on the bottom half. Text Reads CS6024 Digital Health and Wellbeing in the community. MSc in Digital Health Transformation. Underneath text reads: Trevor Vaugh & Linzi Ryan, David Prendergast & Mac MacLachlan, MAynooth University Dept of Design Innovation, Anthropology & Psychology. ALL Institute (Assisting Living and Learning). Logos on Bottom Left Hand Side of the Screen: HSE University of Limerick, Maynooth University, ALL Institute. — CS6024 Digital Health and Wellbeing in the community.
MSc in Digital Health Transformation.

On Wednesday 4th September 2019, the inaugural Health Service Executive ‘Digital Academy Forum’ was held at Dr Steeven’s Hospital in Dublin. During this meeting, Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer for the HSE announced plans for an ambitious and experimental Masters in Digital Health Transformation to help build digital skills and train future leaders in health service innovation. Co-designed between the HSE and several Irish Universities, including Maynooth, Limerick, UCD, DCU NUI Galway and University College Cork, the new degree runs over 18 months and is open to HSE employees and the General Public.

In the first semester of the degree, students completed five modules on topics ranging from eHealth Systems and Standards, Health Information Modelling and Governance, Research Methods and Digital Health Service Transformation. In the second semester, topics such as Digital Health Change Management, Clinical Decision-Making, Data Science and AI in Healthcare were covered, along with a design innovation module on Digital Health and Wellbeing in the Community run by the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute at Maynooth University. Building on these modules, students were expected to work on a substantial project designing, developing and deploying a digital solution within the Irish Healthcare system.

Celebrating the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development: A Contribution from the ReCreating Europe Project at Maynooth University

Social Structures

Author: Dr Laura Serra. Postdoctoral researcher ReCreating Europe, ALL Institute – Department of Law, Maynooth University

Laura Serra Profile Picture

Today, 21^st of May is the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. This is a date that we would like to mark within the remit of the ReCreating Europe project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme, by raising awareness about cultural diversity. We also wish to take this opportunity to highlight how the project aims to contribute to foster cultural diversity.

According to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, which was adopted in 2005 and swiftly ratified by several States around the globe, cultural diversity “refers to the manifold ways in which the cultures of groups and societies find expression”, and “these expressions are passed on within and among groups and societies”. Furthermore, cultural diversity “is made manifest not only through the varied ways in which the cultural heritage of humanity is expressed, augmented and transmitted through the variety of cultural expressions, but also through diverse modes of artistic creation, production, dissemination, distribution and enjoyment, whatever the means and technologies used”.

My Placement Experience with ALL Institute

Stories/Lived Experience

Author: Kimberly Wright, Postgraduate LLM student Global Legal Studies

Kimberly Wright

One of the main reasons I decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Global Legal Studies after completing my Bachelor’s in Law was to obtain a better understanding of the global legal system in the hopes of one day working for an international organization, as well as to apply for a placement to gain practical experience in a reputable organization. From February to May of this year, I had the privilege of interning with Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute.

My first day with the ALL Institute I was incredibly nervous as I had no previous experience working in this field and it was completely different from what I was accustomed to. However, upon meeting the co-directors and their administrative lead for the first time, I was warmly welcomed and immediately put at ease.

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