Sep 15 2022
Galway's acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Christian O'Reilly tells us about his latest work, No Magic Pill, inspired by Spiddal's Martin Naughton. The play opens in Galway later this month.
I have wanted to tell this story for 27 years. It started when I replied to a job ad in the DCU newsletter, which had been placed by the Centre for Independent Living (CIL ). I was invited to an interview at the Royal Dublin Hotel. Soon, the door was pushed open and a bearded man in a wheelchair rolled in. A fishing hat sat on his head, a cigarette hung from his lips and he wore a smile on his face. ‘Shake the thumb,’ he told me. This was my first introduction to Martin Naughton.
I soon learnt that CIL was a disability-rights organisation founded by and for disabled people. My perception of disabled people as passive and dependent was shattered by the angry, militant gang of wheelchair-users I met through CIL.
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