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Sinead spoke on The Late Late Show last night. RTÉ

'It's not my job to educate the world': Activist Sinead Burke speaks about bullying and her own experience

Burke has made waves in recent years catching the attention of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

DISABILITY ACTIVIST SINEAD Burke has spoken of her experience of being bullied, suggesting a need for better education which could lead to a more tolerant society. 

Burke has made waves over the past few years in a number of areas, including being appointed to the Council of State by President Michael D Higgins last year, and her appointment as a contributing editor of British Vogue in 2018. 

Appearing on The Late Late Show, she spoke of her experience being “othered” and her activism to encourage people to be more tolerant towards others. 

“I think it’s a lesson that we all need to learn. I think we need to educate ourselves on what we don’t know and we need to facilitate the curiosity within us,” she said. 

“An example that I give is that I’m in the aisle in a supermarket and a child will see me and the first thing that they will do is point me out and say ‘look, there’s a little woman’.

“And in that instance the adult will ignore them, dismiss them, distract them, try to remove them from the place in which they are, only because they’re embarrassed.

“They’re embarrassed that this has happened and they feel it’s a negative impact on their parenting and how could it be so, instead of actually realising that’s a child’s natural curiosity and why don’t they say to the child ‘yeah, that is a little woman, say hello’.”

Following her work as a campaigner, Burke fell onto the radar of high-profile figures around the world. 

In July, the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle chose Burke as a ‘Force of Nature’ cover star for the September edition of British Vogue, alongisde actress Jane Fonda, climate activist Greta Thunberg and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern. 

Speaking on the Late Late Show last night, she said: “I say this with the premise and framework that it’s not my job to educate the world that I should get to exist but it’s a balance of the two and it’s something I choose to do.”

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    Mute Gareth Cooney
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    May 9th 2018, 6:10 AM

    The vultures will snap that up and build private dwellings for those who need to live next door to work. They will hardly build social flats for the local scangers unless of course DCC decide not to take the set aside money and insist they get built.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    May 9th 2018, 7:23 AM

    @Gareth Cooney: they can no longer buy out the social housing requirement. The dock lands already has some social housing as part of what was built.

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    Mute Robert Harris
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    May 9th 2018, 7:43 AM

    @Gareth Cooney: Where’s me bleedin free house ?

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    Mute Fred Jonsen
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    May 9th 2018, 8:17 AM

    @Gareth Cooney:

    Imagine two hard working young people breaking their back to save for a deposit and secure a 35 year mortgage to buy a 2 bed apartment here for €600k. Then Jacinta and her 3 delights (who seem to like jumping into the liffey for some reason) are handed the exact same apartment next door in the same building, for life and effectively for free. Socail justice my backside, that to me is the very definition of social injustice. Ordinary workers and taxpayers have got to wake up, we are being totally shafted by a certain class of people.

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    Mute John Smith
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    May 9th 2018, 9:12 AM

    @Fred Jonsen:

    That’s all well and good Fred, it makes you feel better that people are excluded for whatever reason. It’s a very easy position to take, and feel fairly justified. But the conclusion of it is areas where all poor people are living in the same area, where crime becomes rampant, drugs endemic and prospects diminished. Now this may not bother you, but when the crime seeps from that area to your area you will complain about why nothing is done about it. In Helsinki there are no “rough” areas. East Helsinki is considered the worst part, but by our standards it’s middle class. They manage this by mixing people in all areas of all levels of wealth. Crime is very low, Helsinki is an incredibly safe city. Long term planning leads to lasting results, beyond our personal bias.

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    May 9th 2018, 9:57 AM

    @Fred Jonsen: You have a very sick mind. You deserve your nightmares.

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    Mute Whoswho
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    May 9th 2018, 10:19 AM

    @Fred Johnson – Trying to build up a resentment towards the working class who get a social house. You should sent that resentment to the government who are welcoming all these real estate funds in order to inflate the price of houses so ordinary people pay massive prices with massive mortgages. I thought the reason for all this crazy ‘housing crisis’ is the c.2000 homeless families so why are we all paying crazy prices for houses. Excus the pun. Nothing to do with ‘Demand/Supply’

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    Mute Niall Brew
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    May 9th 2018, 11:05 AM

    @Gareth Cooney: wow the utter cheek of them wanting to live near work where they spend most of their lives funding the other half through high taxation.

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    Mute David Cullen
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    May 9th 2018, 11:15 AM

    @John Smith: absolutely agree, no one should be given a 500k plus apartment on social. Social housing should be built for people who need it, it can be in the sam area but not the same size and spec, it should be basic not luxurious

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    Mute Ron O'Keefe
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    May 9th 2018, 2:28 PM

    @David Cullen: Yeah, you are right. Basic. 5×10′s for all those bottom feeders. No windows. Outdoor toilet. These people have no business expecting running water and ‘lectricty. Who do they think they are? They shouldn’t be allowed to send their kids to school either. Back to the Victorian Age is where they need to go.

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    Mute Ron O'Keefe
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    May 9th 2018, 2:32 PM

    @Fred Jonsen: Who is Jacinta?

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    Mute Fred Jonsen
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    May 9th 2018, 8:24 AM

    Not tall enough and there should be zero social housing. It’s bonkers to have them in the Docklands!

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    Mute Ron O'Keefe
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    May 9th 2018, 2:29 PM

    @Fred Jonsen: It is bonkers that you believe your own bullshit.

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    May 9th 2018, 7:58 AM

    With the cost of land so high building tall is the only thing that makes sense! I’ll be surprised if it exceeds 6 storeys though

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    Mute wacker macker
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    May 9th 2018, 8:06 AM

    @Toomasu Sumitsu: Sox stories, are you mad? This is not New York.

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    May 9th 2018, 1:49 PM

    @Toomasu Sumitsu: With anything that is higher than 6 floors with another setback taking a good 1-2 years or more in additional time in planning applications and appeals it’s not surprising that many developers aren’t even trying for more than 6-7 storeys anymore, even in the areas where area planning specifications allow for much higher buildings.

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    Mute Elvis Polkasalad
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    May 9th 2018, 6:06 AM

    will they ever learn

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    Mute Whoswho
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    May 9th 2018, 7:41 AM

    There should be no need for apartments outside of city centres. Clearly this is city centre. Developers should be forced to build proper houses. People cant live in a house if you dont have space to store a bicycle – And im not talking about putting it in a balcony.

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    May 9th 2018, 8:40 AM

    @Whoswho: Apartments themselves aren’t the problem. It’s the way that they are designed and facilitated. Storage for apartments should be caterered for buy building it into basement levels or roof levels.

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    Mute Niall Brew
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    May 9th 2018, 11:07 AM

    @Whoswho: thats not true at all. what like two storey suburban houses? are you for real?

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    May 9th 2018, 1:46 PM

    @Whoswho: Any of the modern apartment buildings in the docklands have bicycle parking in the basement levels.

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    May 9th 2018, 6:30 AM

    The company that gets the original planning permission should no be allowed to sell on the site. The sites just go in price with profits going to the gamblers.

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    Mute James Moore
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    May 9th 2018, 10:31 AM

    Great opertunity to build 30 + 40 story highrise apartment tastefully built spacous and storage on the roof and basement lifts to all floors and wrap around balconies for all apartments from two to four bedroom if thats the case i want one for cash

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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    May 9th 2018, 6:50 AM

    The Vultures are rubbing their greedy little hands. More potential tax free profits to be exported.
    In the meantime, tent cities spring up all over the place, hubs, grotty hotel rooms, or the whims of landlords are good enough for the plebs.

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    Mute Sean Callan
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    May 9th 2018, 7:11 AM

    At that price it will cost 250.000 be4 building costs that’s Ireland 4u

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    May 9th 2018, 8:45 AM

    @Sean Callan: €100,000 per apartment land cost if they built the total 450 but yeh still a fair chunk of change.

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    Mute Aidan
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    May 9th 2018, 8:27 AM

    Going cheap

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