Disability activist to picket abuse play

AUTHOR AND disability rights campaigner Paddy Doyle has said he will picket the opening of a play this week about the Ryan report on child abuse because the venue is inaccessible to wheelchair users.

Mr Doyle has described as intolerable and abhorrent the decision to stage the series of plays about child abuse in the Peacock Theatre, which is in the basement of the Abbey theatre building and has no disabled persons’ access.

He says board members of the Abbey should explain how they can stand over the use of a venue that “clearly discriminates” against people who use wheelchairs.

“We are now in the year 2010. There are numerous ‘gadgets and gizmos’ that can be employed to ensure people with disabilities gain access to various buildings which are hundreds of years older than the Abbey.”

Mr Doyle says he is horrified that he may not be able to gain access to see the performances of his friends, journalist Mary Raftery and writer Mannix Flynn.

In a letter to Mr Doyle, Abbey director Fiach Mac Conghail expressed shame at the lack of disabled access. The issue was alienating people and was one of the reasons a new building was needed for the national theatre, he said.