Handicap didn't prevent a lifetime of helping others

Father Patrick (Paddy) Lewis, who died on October 6th aged 66, was among those who laid the foundations for the assertive disability…

Father Patrick (Paddy) Lewis, who died on October 6th aged 66, was among those who laid the foundations for the assertive disability movement in Ireland today. A feisty and sometimes argumentative man, he lived with disability from the age of 20 when he was afflicted by polio.

The polio left him in a wheelchair and lucky to be alive. It also led to a lengthy involvement with the Irish Wheelchair Association on which he had a formative influence.

His stewardship of the association was not without controversy - his move to introduce a democratic constitution to the IWA led to ructions before it was adopted.

Paddy Lewis was born on July 18th, 1935. His father, Colonel Jack Lewis, from Crecora, near Limerick city, was captain of the Irish Army equitation team. His mother, Mary Patricia O'Connor, was from Sandymount, Dublin (her father was Chief Inspector of Schools).

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The Emergency saw the family living outside Dublin for a time. His father commanded a battalion in Co Cork and the family lived in Youghal and Midleton.

He was educated at Blackrock College and there he decided to join the Holy Ghost Order, the Air Corps running a close second because of his love of aircraft. The order sent him to University College Dublin to study social science.

At the age of 20 polio struck.This was one of the dreaded diseases of the time. It caused a creeping paralysis which, among other things, could remove the capacity of the lungs to breathe independently.

For Paddy Lewis it meant five years in hospital, including a period in an iron lung. The iron lung was a chamber in which the body was sealed with only the head protruding. Changes in pressure inside the chamber helped the lungs to breathe.

Initially, it was thought he would be paralysed from the neck down. Eventually, however, he recovered the use of one arm quite well and the other to a certain degree.

In 1960, he was an observer at the inaugural meeting of the Irish Wheelchair Association in the Pillar Room of the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

The following year he convalesced at Kimmage Manor and resumed his studies for the priesthood to which he was ordained in 1964. He was one of the first wheelchair users to be ordained in the country.

He became honorary secretary of the Irish Wheelchair Association in the year of his ordination and chairman five years later, in 1969. By now he had obtained his Bachelor of Social Science degree in UCD.

Paddy Lewis took the view that wheelchair users should be asked what they wanted instead of being told. To that end, he steered through a change in the constitution of the association in 1970 to make it a more democratic organisation.

This was by no means as simple a task as one might expect from today's perspective. There was strong opposition and a vote of no confidence was proposed, but he remained firm and got the new constitution approved at a second general meeting called for the purpose.

It wasn't just on paper, though, that Paddy Lewis brought about change. He was also director of the social services committee and promoted the hiring of social workers and occupational therapists to work with people in their own homes. This meant people were being helped all over the country. He was also instrumental in setting up a driving school for wheelchair users.

He rejected the notion of encouraging wheelchair users to drive the Invacar, a three-wheeled model which he regarded as stigmatising. Instead he was one of those who pressed for and got a series of tax and excise duty concessions to enable people in wheelchairs to buy the same sort of cars as anyone else. Indeed, the IWA began to issue loans to members to enable them to buy cars.

In 1974, his life took a new turn when he went to the United States to study for an MA in social work. For the next seven years he worked as a counsellor and also with Catholic diocesan charities in Missouri.

It is likely that the happiest period of his life began in 1981 when he was transferred to the San Francisco diocese as vicar for people with special needs. He had an office downtown and lived in a complex designed to promote independent living among people with disabilities. He loved cooking for friends in the evenings there.

An trip in a small airplane with no pressurised cabin brought serious consequences a few years later. He collapsed the day after the flight and the experience left him somewhat more disabled than before. Nevertheless, he remained active in community work and in making churches and other buildings accessible in the San Francisco diocese.

In 1992, he returned to Ireland after failing health forced his retirement.

Paddy Lewis is remembered by those who knew him as an inspirational person. He was living proof of how much a person could do with determination even though great obstacles lay in the way.

His retreats for people with disabilities were particularly effective because participants knew he spoke from personal experience. These retreats also helped him to see some sense in why the Lord had allowed him to get polio. His own polio and achievements gave confidence to others with disabilities.

Fr Paddy Lewis is survived by his sister Jacqueline Nelson.

Fr Patrick (Paddy) Joseph Lewis: born 1935; died, October 2001