‘Diversity is key to change’, says Pigott

A disability activist from Crookedwood has been added to the Sinn Féin ticket in the Kinnegad Local Electoral Area for next summer’s local elections.

Maureen Pigott, who is a full-time wheelchair user due to having a neuromuscular disorder, joins David Jones of Delvin on the party ticket in the Kinnegad LEA.

A further candidate is expected to be added in the coming weeks.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Maureen (31) says that people with disabilities are under-represented in politics at both local and national levels and she wants to help redress the imbalance.

“I want to highlight the issues facing people with disabilities, especially those struggling to get houses, whether its social or affordable housing.

“I was putting on fundraisers for different mental health and disability charities since I was about 14 years of age.

“This is my next step in my efforts to ensure that people get what they deserves in life: independence and equality.”

Maureen says that the government’s Green Paper for Disability Reform, which has been criticised by groups such as Inclusion Ireland and activists like Senator Tom Noonan, will push the area of disability rights back decades.

One of the proposals put forward in the green paper, which is currently at the public consultation phase, is that a single payment system for people with disabilities be created.

It’s proposed that this Personal Support Payment have three payment rates, or tiers, based on people’s ‘capacity for work’ based on a medical examination.

“Some people with disabilities have good days and bad days as their symptoms fluctuate, some disabilities are seen, and some are not seen, while people on the autism spectrum are affected in different ways. This is not a workable thing,” Maureen says.

Maureen says that she has been interested in politics all her life and comes from a long line of Sinn Féin supporters on her father’s side.

She says the party are the “only ones” with viable plans to solve the problems in housing, health and disability issues.

While she is a committed disability activist, Maureen says that if elected she will also be a voice for the many local families struggling financially due to the rise in the cost of living over the last two years.

“Everyone needs a change right now. We have had the same thing for far too long and it hasn’t done us any good – I really think that diversity is the key to the change.”