Throughout this first week, we visited a lot of educational sites-such as Trinity College and University of Dublin. All of which held conferences and tours hosted by professionals who study with and work with people with intellectual disabilities. One consistent topic of discussion this week was people with intellectual disabilities living in Ireland being disproportionately and often detrimentally suffering on behalf of poor medical/healthcare. According to the host at Trinity, up until relatively recently, those with a disability were not even considered worthy of medical care, or being taken anywhere for care but a mental asylum. Among a plethora of other rights being grossly overlooked and denied, hosts described how people with disabilities have actually died at the hands of insufficient medical treatment, such as how one young man tragically starved to death. 

When taking all of this knowledge into consideration, I actually was able to look for certain things when visiting other places in Ireland. Things that made me ask rhetorical questions, noticing things from the eyes of an able-bodied person. On the topic of medical care, I passed by a small, cornered healthcare office while out on an exploratory walk of the city. When I say small, I mean like the door was a couple feet wide. And it got me thinking, how would somebody with assisting equipment (such as a wheelchair) be able to readily enter this place of treatment? Maybe they would get help but still, what if it was an emergency, especially if that person is already sick or injured? And how could someone who may be ultra-sensitive to noise be okay with waiting in such a small place so close to ear-blowing commotion? (As the waiting area was right next to thin windows). 

I think exploring areas as much as possible is essential to actually learning about the issues at hand, not just around colleges or places where the problems may be addressed more vocally.