Private people who never wanted to be in the public eye found themselves on the streets of Galway last week protesting against plans by the HSE to cut funding for disability services in Galway.
And while they have no desire to be the focus of attention, several families agreed to talk to The Connacht Tribune to show what’s involved in caring for individuals with special needs and how vital the current, hard-won, services are to their lives.

PAULINE MOLLOY from Headford is a gentle woman with a spine of steel who was determined from day one to give her 17-year old son Shane, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy “the best quality of life he could have”. She gave up her job to give him that and through blood, sweat and tears, has succeeded. Pauline’s fear now is that 17 years of progress will be lost.

Shane is wheelchair bound and from the moment he gets up in the morning, he has to be hoisted everywhere. Showering can take an hour, then there’s physiotherapy to stretch his legs and hips. That’s before breakfast.

He has gaiters which he has to wear for three hours daily to keep his knees straight – like the physio, this helps avoid surgery.

Shane eats normal food and, if it’s chopped up, is able to finger-feed himself, but needs somebody to hold his cup.

He is in nappies and changing him involves hoisting him in and out of his chair five times daily.

Shane goes to Rosedale School in the Brothers of Charity Woodlands complex in Renmore from Monday to Friday. He is collected at 7.45am and returns home at 4pm. There, the staff do physio with him and get him into his standing frame for 45 minutes daily. One of his hips is semi-dislocated and that exercise helps keep it strong.

When Shane gets home Pauline puts his backroll on him and does more stretches.

She is full of praise for the staff at Rosedale and how the school has helped Shane, physically and mentally.

“When he was younger, our usual day was Shane screaming all day long.”

He was classed by a psychologist at two as severely mentally affected – now he is classed as moderate.

“He needed to have familiar faces all the time – a person could walk into the room and he’d start screaming. Now that has changed. The staff are so loving and caring. When he is relaxed Shane will talk out, and he’s just so relaxed at school. They’re brilliant.”

However, it took 10 years, between school and respite care at the John Paul Centre in Ballybane for Shane to settle down. He gets respite care in Ballybane for two weekends a month and one night a week.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.