Category: Symposium

Moving Forward to Have a More Inclusive Society

Author: James Cawley, Maynooth University Alumnus, Business Development Executive at the Irish Centre for Diversity, Disability Rights Activist, and Member of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Disability Advisory Committee

Research Stream: Lived Experience

First, I want to extend my sincere congratulations to the ALL Institute team in marking the sixth anniversary of the ALL Institute at Maynooth University. Equally, I am delighted to contribute to the end of year symposium for the third anniversary of the Ideas in ALL Blog.

My name is James Cawley, I have contributed to the ALL Blog over the last 3 years. For me, the Blog remains an important channel to showcase empowerment and tackle social exclusion.

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Building a Digitally Wealthy society with the support of the ALL Institute

Author: Dr Holly Foley, PhD, Project Manager at the Digital Wealth Project, UDL Digital Badge Lead Maynooth University

Research Stream: Lived Experience

Digital Wealth: An Overview

As we pass the sixth anniversary of the ALL institute it’s a perfect time to reflect on how our research has grown and developed under the ethos of the institute. The Digital Wealth Project commenced in March of 2021 for a 3-year project and funded through Rethink Ireland and Microsoft Ireland led by Dr Katriona O’Sullivan and Dr Holly Foley.

The aim of the Digital Wealth Project is to tackle Digital Poverty.  Digital Poverty is not income-dependent, instead it relates specifically to being able to access the digital resources (materials, skills, training, infrastructure) necessary to enjoy a basic standard of living.

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Celebrating the Third Anniversary of the ‘Ideas in ALL Blog’ in the 2023 Winter Symposium; a Commentary from the Editorial Team

Authors: Matthew McKenna, Cassandra Murphy, Neasa Boyle, Hannah Casey and Dr Opeyemi Kolawole

Research Stream: Symposium

The Ideas in ALL Blog celebrated its third anniversary at the end of November 2023, marking three momentous years since its inception. The Blog has grown markedly over this timeframe,

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Around ALL in Seven Blog Posts…

Authors:  Prof. Delia Ferri,  Prof. Mac MacLachlan, Prof. Deirdre Desmond

Research Stream: Symposium

Another year has gone by very fast and Ideas in ALL is now a lively three year old “toddler”! The blog was set up on 3 December 2020, amidst the pandemic, to support the dissemination of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute’s multi- and interdisciplinary research. Since the outset, Ideas in ALL has grown significantly, offering ALL members and collaborators opportunities to showcase their projects in an accessible and reader-friendly way. It also engages a range of stakeholders to help make their voices heard, to reflect on current issues and highlight their lived experiences.

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“The Future of Smart & Healthy Ageing: SHAPES Results, Recommendations & Reflections for an Inclusive Europe and a Participative Civil Society”

Posts

Symposium

Author: Tom Hall Research Assistant on the SHAPES project in ALL

SHAPES: Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in supportive Systems Logo.As European citizens’ life expectancy increases, older people (65+) account for a progressively larger percentage of the total EU population. Trends suggest this will rise from 21.2% in 2022 to 25% in 2030. Along with these demographic changes, larger numbers of people will experience health-related issues. This raises significant challenges for European healthcare systems. In light of these, the SHAPES (Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems) project led by Maynooth University aims to create an integrated IT platform which offers a wide range of digital solutions. These are focused on improving the health, well-being, and independence of people as they get older.

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Is Social Sustainability the Forgotten Pillar of Sustainable Development?

Social Structures

Symposium

Author: Ruth O’Reilly, Senior Built Environment Design Advisor, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, National Disability Authority

Here at the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, we often use this quotation from the designer, Victor Papanek, to explain the focus of our work:

The only important thing about design is how it relates to people Quotation 'The only important thing about design is how it relates to people' alongside an image of a book with the title Design for the Real Workld, by Victor Papanek.
Figure 1: Quotation from Design for the Real World by Victor Papenek (1971)

A key tenet of Universal Design is that good design works well for everyone. Sometimes however, it seems that social sustainability is the forgotten pillar of sustainable development. How can we persuade designers that taking a Universal Design approach – designing for all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability – is a key element of sustainable development?

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Developing a Sustainable, Needs-based Roadmap for Social and Assistive Robots for Older Care

Social Technologies

Symposium

Authors: Louise Veling is a Senior Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Horizon 2020 SHAPES Project as part of the Assisted Living and Learning (ALL) Institute / Department of Engineering at Maynooth University. Rudi Villing is a Lecturer with the School of Engineering at Maynooth University, Programme Director of the BSc in Robotics & Intelligence Devices, member of the Hamilton Institute and associate director of the Assisted Living and Learning (ALL) institute.

Left to Right Rudi Villing, Louise Veling
Rudi Villing and Louise Veling

Few people would dispute the importance of centring older people’s needs when it comes to developing assistive technologies. For assistive robots, this is even more important. As in other fields, within robotics and human-robot interaction (HRI) research, older people are often subject to stereotypical representations and ageist attitudes. Assistive robots are also still in their infancy, with few yet deployed in practice, so there is still some distance to go before robots make it out of the lab and into the real world. What they will be capable of and how they will be used is still in a process of negotiation.

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An Interview with Stephanie Ortoleva, Founder of Women Enabled International (November 14th, 2022)

Stories/Lived Experience

Symposium

Author: Dr Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez, MSCA Fellow and Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute

Stephanie Ortoleva and Ana Maria Sanchez Rodriguez
Stephanie Ortoleva and Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez

Stephanie Ortoleva, founder of Women Enabled International (WEI) advocates for women and girls with disabilities. She says that, “disabled women are organizing for ourselves because we have found that other movements, whether it’s the women’s rights movement or the disability rights movement, very often don’t include our issues as the key points of their advocacy. Disabled women just aren’t going to be silent anymore” (Ford Foundation, 2020).

In the summer of 2012, I started my research journey as an intern for WEI. WEI wanted to help and join the work on the revision of laws in India and globally. The central issue was violence against women and girls with disabilities. The same year, Stephanie and Hope Lewis published a seminal work on violence against women with disabilities called: Forgotten Sisters – A Report on Violence Against Women with Disabilities: An Overview of its Nature, Scope, Causes and Consequences.

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Our Journey to the End of the Night… and towards a new future. Happy Birthday Ideas in ALL!

Symposium

Picture of the three ALL Institute Co-Directors in front of a white back drop. From left to right: Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan, Delia Ferri
Delia Ferri, Mac MacLachlan, Deirdre Desmond

Ideas in ALL is two years old! Our blog was set up on 3 December 2020, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The blog seeks to engage an audience beyond academic journal readers – it aims to be relevant to a much wider range of stakeholders and to engage with public debate.  A crucial element of the Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute’s blog – Ideas in ALL is to empower and give voice to people with disabilities, mental health problems, or chronic illnesses and older people, and their many and varied experiences of positive ageing. We also want those often marginalized from the benefits of mainstream society to feel that they can share ideas here. We strive to ensure that Ideas in ALL is characterized by accessible style, pluralism, openness and appreciation of difference.

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