Shared interests in advocating for and raising awareness about persons with disabilities was the catalyst which brought these two groups together through their social media outlets.

Posts by Maynooth Access Group which detailed their flagship project “Our World” caught the attention of members of Waterford Disability Network and they were very interested to learn more about the initiative.

Discussions followed which ultimately led to a meeting of the two groups in Waterford City Hall, where members of Waterford De La Salle Beavers and Cubs were given the opportunity to interact with the wide selection of books, toys, dolls, lego, floor puzzles etc which make up “Our World”. Each toy depicts a disability, some easily seen, other not so obvious. The town setting created with lego,which includes a moving train is thought provoking for those who study it with a view to the level of inclusivity and accessibility evident or otherwise.

The Beavers and Cubs had a wonderful day, as did the members of M.A.G. and W.D.N.
Children learn through play, and allowing them the opportunity to play with and investigate toys with disabilities, it normalises these elements in their everyday life experiences in school and their environment.

Waterford Disability Network seeing the merit of the project and the educational benefit it represented decided that they would develop their own collection to share with Waterford children and work towards normalising disabilities and show children through play the importance of understanding and inclusion for persons with disabilities.

More detail concerning the Our World project is available on this website.