Living with an intellectual disability

Case Study: Marie O'Callaghan was told by health authorities over a year ago that her intellectually disabled sister was going to be put in a psychiatric hospital for a few weeks as an emergency measure.

"I never believed that," Marie says. "I knew it would take months and months before we could get her out of there. She shouldn't have been there in the first place - she doesn't have a mental illness. The place was like a prison more than anything."

Ann Horgan (58) had been living at home with her aunt and uncle for most of her life, until they became ill and unable to look after her.

The health board said there was nowhere else suitable for Anne and the only option was St Ita's psychiatric hospital in Portrane, Co Dublin.

"The moment she went in there she went downhill," Marie says. "She was very depressed. She was crying and begging to leave. She had some basic therapy there, and some of the staff were good to her, but otherwise it was a terrible place."

"It's not a place for intellectually disabled people. There were people there with crash helmets on their heads - some would be just sitting there, banging their heads, shaking all day."

"I was very down and very depressed at the situation. I cried day and night. It still upsets me, and I'm angry at the Government for allowing it to happen," says Marie (53), who works in Marks & Spencer in Dublin.

She contacted her TDs, received support from the National Association of the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland and contacted the media about the conditions her sister was being kept in.

After months of campaigning, Ann was finally moved from St Ita's to appropriate residential accommodation in St Joseph's Hospital, Clonsilla, last week.

"It's a beautiful place - it's like a home from home. She keeps telling me it's beautiful. She's in a room with one other lady instead of a ward with 12 others. She's herself again.

"We're going to bring her personal things into the room - family photos, a picture of her mother, things like that. It's great to see her like she is."