‘Disability Week’ 

A webpage from 2005; imported into this site as part of the school archive.

During the week, the children in every classroom were asked to write a poem or short story about disabilities.  The main idea of this competition was to ask the children to show compassion for those less fortunate and to promote English writing.  The people who won this competition were from
1st & 2nd  Class: 
Conor O’Keeffe (3rd place), Eoin O’Connell (2nd) and Brian O’Connor (1st).
3rd & 4th Class: 
Jamie O’Connor (3rd) , Ryan Vincent (2nd)  and David Enright (1st).
5th & 6th Class: 
Tim Collins & Stephen O’Donovan (3rd), Nicky Barrett  (2nd) and Conor Kepell (1st).
The week was enjoyed by all and we hope to have many more over the years.

Eoin Murphy, 6th Class, 2004-‘05

Nicky Barrett, 5th Class, 2004-05

Can you walk?
I can’t.
Can you stand?
I can’t.
Can you play games?
I can’t. 

I went to school.
Did you?
I went to college.
Did you?
I have a good job.
Do you? 

I have a set of wheels.
Do you?
I have my own wheelchair.
Do you? 

Jeremy Long, 6th Class, 2004-05
I am the one 

I am the one who you laugh at.
I am the one who you call a habit.
I am the one who is in a wheelchair.
I am the one who you don’t give care for.
I am the one who you call stupid.
I am the one who will never get a call from Cupid.
I am the one who cannot walk about.
I am the one who you always talk about.
I am the one who you call a freak.
I am the one who you call a geek.
I am the one who is always sad.
I am the one who is always mad.

Top

Disabilities

Gearoid Cremin, 4th Class, 2004-05
I can only imagine what it is like to have a disability because I'm fortunate not to have a disability.  But I will tell you what I think it would be like if I was paralysed from the neck down.  
The biggest downside I think would be the fact I could not be able to play sports like hurling, football and other sports. Another downside is that I could not do anything other than eat, drink, talk and sleep and I could only eat and drink if someone helped me. It makes me sad thinking about someone who has to live their life like that and some people have different disabilities like autism. But I thank God that l or anybody I know does not have a disability.

Ryan Vincent, 4th Class, 2004-05
As a ten year old boy in Ireland today, I would never think about somebody with a disability.  Anything I want to do I can just get up and do it.  I don’t realise how lucky I am until I come across somebody with a disability.  During the holidays, I met up with my cousin.  He has had a disability since he was born.  He was sitting in his wheelchair. He could not do anything.  He could move his hand slightly.  His mother had to help him to eat and his father had to lift him into bed at night.  He has never played football or hurling and he will never be able to play those games because he is just not able.

Gerard Murphy, 5th Class, 2004-05
IF I had a disabled friend, he should be treated with respect and should not be bullied in school or outside school.  A disabled person is a person that was born with special needs or could be in a wheelchair or could not speak right.  A disabled person is much like an ordinary person only they have special needs and need to get people to do things for them. So people on a wheelchair should not get picked on because they have a disability.

When I go to school
I get bullied all week.
I hate it. I hate it.
They call me a freak. 

Because I’m in a wheelchair
They say I can’t play.
I hate it. I hate it.
I’m left there all day.

I like to watch the Simpsons
And play the ps2.
Can’t you see? Can’t you see?
I’m just like you.

Some day I’ll be happy
And able to run.
God help me. God help me.
I’d like to have fun.

My legs have got better
And I’m having fun.
I’d like to thank God
For he’s a special one. 

So my story concludes
That’s how it ends.
Thank God. Thank God.
I now have lots of friends. 

My friend broke his two legs,
When he had a fall;
Now he walks with crutches,
But finds it hard to kick a ball.
He still has a wheelchair,
And he is still the same to me,
But that won’t bother us
Because he is my dad, ‘you see.

Michael O’Leary, 6th Class, 2004-05
Someone like me 

He may not be able to hear
But he plays sport every year,
He can do everything else
Like you and me. So why
Tease him when he can play
Like you and me. So when
You think to laugh again,
Remember that it could have
Been you or me.

Someone like me
Jack Guiney, 1st  Class, 2004-05

People are the same as you and me
Treat them with respect and kindness.

Daniel Norton, 2nd  Class, 2004-05

My cousin has amputated legs
But he really is the same as me
He can play sport like any other kid
But he means a lot to me. 

Conor O’Keeffe, 2nd Class, 2004-05

Once every 4 years
A time comes round
People from all over gather round
Old, young, disabled too
Come to show what they can do. 

Just because they are disabled
Does not mean they are uncool
They are like us, just me and you
They come to have fun too.

Seán Moynihan, 5th Class, 2004-05
If he hadn’t driven that fast

If only he hadn’t driven that fast,
He wouldn’t be in a body-cast.
As he lies in the hospital bed thinking,
About all those late nights out drinking.
How stupid he was to sit in his car,
The walk home was not really that far.
Now in intensive care,
And soon into a wheelchair,
His family and friends call to talk,
But never reassure him that
He’ll be able to walk. 

Eoin Murphy, 6th Class, 2004-05
Someone Like Me 

Calling names and hitting is doing wrong,
It stays in minds for lifetimes to come.
I may not be in a wheelchair and I may have two working feet,
But I’d hate to be called a retard or a freak.
In school I have friends like many people do,
I’m lucky to have friends and so are you.
But some people are shallow and want nothing to do
With people who can’t kick a football or two.
So don’t be like them and give a helping hand
To people who think they’re the loneliest on the land.
People have friends and everyone should be
As lucky to have friends as someone like me.

David Enright, 4th Class, 2004-05
My Disability Story

My story is about my nana Nora.  Her disability is a disease called Glaucoma.  It is an eye disease, characterised by increased pressure of the fluid within the eye. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide.  If a blockage occurs at any point in the fluid’s pathway, pressure builds within the eye producing glaucoma.  She is now 75 years old. She has had glaucoma for 25 years.  There are many things she loved doing that she can’t do now.  She always loved sewing, knitting, and doing her own shopping, cleaning, cooking and looking after her flowers.  Now she is depending on other people to help her.  Now, most of the time, she listens to the radio and pets her dog Sam.  Although she wants to do things herself, she can’t.  She hates being inside most to the time but she still has fun.  I think my Nana is the best because she always cares for other people even with her disability.

Alan Ryan, 4th Class, 2004-05

Hi. My name is Ryan.  I am nine years old.  I am in a wheelchair after a road accident.  I am not able to do a lot of things like I used to do, like playing soccer, run around and go for walks.  Life has been different since I became disabled.  I have to rely on others more.  Also, life is made harder by things not made suitable for wheelchairs.  I have lots of great friends and we do lots of fun stuff together.  I still enjoy playing on the playstation, PC, reading and watching cartoons.  I have just joined a group for special boys and girls like me.  I really enjoy gong there because we all have things in common.  Also, they have just started a basketball team and guess what? I’m on it.

Thomas Fitzpatrick, 2nd  Class, 2004-05

Michael is my uncle dear.
He watches out for me when I am near.
To me he is the same as everyone else.
He likes to run and play
And sometimes he will stay
To take care of me in his special way.

 Eoin O’Connell, 2nd Class, 2004-05

I know a boy with a disability
Other boys think it is funny
But I thin he is nice
Like you and me
So treat him as good
As you and me

Shane O’Donovan, 1st Class, 2004-05

Some people are different from the rest of us
They cannot walk or take the bus.
Instead of legs they might use wheels
And find it hard to eat their meals.
It must be awful to be blind
There are lots fo things you could not find
For them it must be very sad,
When other people treat them bad.

Stephen Gillman, 2nd  Class, 2004-05

I know someone in a wheelchair,
It is not much fun for him
Because everyone in my school bullies him
But I think that it is not nice because
He is my friend and I like him
He is someone like me.

Gavin Keane, 6th Class, 2004-05
My Grandad

I used to go out and play
With my Grandad everyday
Until he couldn’t walk again
That’s where it all began
He was in a wheelchair
It just wasn’t fair
I used to visit him everyday
To see if he was okay
He used to mind me everyday
When my mother and father were away.

I had a friend called John
Who liked to go to the pond,
I bring him to the Opera
And he likes to sing along.
But when he goes into town,
He gets mocked all around,
But I just say to him, “Don’t take any notice”,
Because he’s someone just like me.

Patrick Kelly, 5th Class, 2004-05
Someone like me

Here is the story about my friend,
How he handled this sharp bend.
My friend has got a handicap.
When he first came to school, it was hard for him to adapt.
When he first came to town, he did not know the way around.
He got lost, and thought he’d never be found.

He stood there in that dark place,
The tears began to run down his face,
I heard the sobs and the yell,
So I released him from that dark hell
If we were lost, we’d be crying too,
So it goes to show, he’s just like me and you.

Stephen O’Donovan, 5th Class, 2004-05

My nana used to go and play bingo and cards and ever since her eyesight went bad she never went to the bingo and cards.  She used to have a walk up the road now she goes back the passage across the road.  She has special glasses to read the paper.  Bu tshe plays telebingo on Tuesdays and Fridays and plays cards me ans sometimes with my brother plays.  But I know something she is good at being a great grandmother and very good at cards. 

Billy Lane, 5th Class, 2004-05
Somebody Like Me

I know a little girl who is paralysed from her heels,
Nobody knows how it feels.
She was really really shy,
Her only friend was a boy.
Then one day she took up a sport,
Before her book report.
She now has the longest kick in the school,
They are sorry for being cruel,
And that’s what makes her somebody like me.

Someone like me

Ivan King, 6th Class, 2004-05
My uncle was in a motorbike crash and was left in a wheelchair.  He now has a bad limp all because of speed.  He once was a fitter but the accident left him without his job. A truck is what he drives now, for a living and he enjoys it.  But still he’s self-dependent just like you and me.

Conor Keppel, 5th Class, 2004-05
Disability

I know this person who is handicapped but it doesn’t mean that he is different from any one else in the world.  He might be a bit slow but it still doesn’t change a thing because we all can be a bit slow sometimes.  He might not be able to read very well but does that make a difference? NO.  He might not be left go somewhere without a guardian but we all need a supervisor to keep us under control sometimes.  There is one thing that he is extremely brilliant and clever at, that is, being a good friend.