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Column At 18, I felt invincible but a sudden accident left me paralysed from the neck down

Stephen Cluskey suffered an accident that left him paralysed from the neck down at the tender age of 18. Eleven years on, he explains how he learned to adapt to a new way of life and set up his own business.

As part of the Change a Little Change a Lot accessibility campaign to raise public awareness of disability, a series of Open Letters have been written by people with varying degrees of disability. In this piece we hear from 29-year old Stephen Cluskey from Swords who, after a freak accident, was left paralysed from the neck down. Here Stephen recounts his story and gives us an insight into life with a disability.

IT WAS 4 August, 2002 and a day which changed my life. The weather was glorious, the Dubs had just drawn in the quarter finals of the All-Ireland against Donegal and life couldn’t have been better. Little did I know that a couple of hours later I’d be in the back of an ambulance on the way to the Mater hospital after falling from a bale of hay.

The accident took me down a road which I had never envisaged. I always thought serious accidents like this happened to ‘other people’ and at 18 felt invincible, like everyone else at that age I suppose. Unfortunately this was not the case and I had broken my neck. I was going into sixth year in Belvedere College about to start the Leaving Cert but instead spent the next year and two months in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire. It was a tough time no doubt but was made so much easier with the great support of family, friends and the staff at the hospital who did everything they possibly could to ease this almost unimaginable situation. In times of trouble and despair the amazing kindness and generosity of human beings really shines through.

The news each day is polluted with bad stories about corruption, murder or sensationalism about a celebrity who did this or didn’t do that and the decency of humanity gets very little coverage, which is a real shame. I can vouch from a very personal point of view how caring a nation we really are and this should be highlighted more.

A ‘previous life’

So what’s it like living with a disability? Well this is quite difficult to put into words as it has gotten to the stage where my daily routine is now ‘normal’ 10 years on from the accident. I once heard another wheelchair user talk about his ‘previous life’ – referring to before his accident – and I can very much relate to that. There are so many connections to this ‘previous life’ with relationships, bonds and memories formed over all this time but my life is now lived and structured in a very different way. Routine plays a big role and the things that were so simple to do in this previous life – like getting out of bed, getting dressed, feeding myself or even just meeting friends – are the challenges I face on a daily basis.

I have learned how to plan and manage time meticulously because of this and without this newly-acquired skill my life would be in turmoil. It takes an hour and a half to get up, washed and dressed in the morning with two people helping and about 45 minutes to get to bed. My day is then structured around carers working times giving me windows of opportunities to get things done. It is not something I would choose, or wish on anyone, but like everything in life you just get on with things and learn to adapt.

That is not to say I live an unfulfilled life. On the contrary, I believe I live quite a decent, mostly independent life and do everything I can to maintain this independence which is very important for sanity reasons. In these past 10 years I have completed my leaving Leaving Certificate while in hospital, studied an economics course in UCD, history and psychology in DCU and am about six months short of completing a business degree with the Open University while also having built a house. Keeping my mind busy is a way to alleviate many of the negative thoughts that may creep in from time to time. I have visited places like the UK, US and Portugal (albeit for treatment but very fulfilling nonetheless) and have had a couple of weekends away with some friends so am fairly well travelled. I have also recently embarked on a new business and I’m hoping it can have a huge social impact.

I never thought transport would be such a big issue

Something that became very evident from my travels and living in Ireland was the struggle a wheelchair user goes through to find suitable transport. I remember lying in the hospital going through in my head the problems I would face when returning to the outside world and not for one second did I think transport would be such a big issue.

However, I quickly learned the contrary after being stranded in town on a night out until 6 am because there were no wheelchair taxis available. So, in 2012 I founded Wheelchairtaxi.ie, a social enterprise which brings all forms of wheelchair accessible transport together in one place. The site lists wheelchair taxis, car hire, minibus/coach hire, community transport organisations as well as wheelchair-accessible boats.

While in the US, I had to travel to the hospital every day in the boot of the hotel shuttle bus with my parents holding onto me so I didn’t fall over because we didn’t know where to find suitable transport. This indignity, and knowing I was not the only one going through these problems, also spurred this idea so this is something which I am determined to replicate in as many countries in the developed world as possible.

I am very optimistic about the future with so much ground-breaking research being done on repairing the spinal cord and don’t see this wheelchair as a permanent feature. Human trials on spinal injuries have recently taken place in the US and many more are cropping up each day so the future is very bright. Spinal cord injuries will be curable in my lifetime and each day that goes by is a day closer to this cure. In the meantime, however, living with a disability is something that I have become accustomed to and something which I will have to live with for the immediate future, like it or not.

This article was originally written for the EU INTERREG IVA Citizenship Project’s Community Awareness Programme which is a joint initiative by the Western Health & Social Care Trust and the Health Service Executive West under the Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT) partnership. The aim of the Community Awareness Programme is to raise awareness of disability in the cross border area of the Donegal and Strabane in association with Donegal County Council and Strabane District Council.

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35 Comments
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    Mute Rodger O Waters
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    Dec 12th 2011, 7:24 PM

    I do not have a trace element of trust in Kenny/Gilmore,they will do what they are told irrespective of Irish national interests.

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    Mute Réada Quinn
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    Dec 12th 2011, 7:44 PM

    I can’t wait that long to write my squiggly IR £ sign again. So much prettier than the €! Ah…

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    Mute Liam Ó Broin
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    Dec 12th 2011, 9:09 PM

    You mightn’t *have* to wait that long Réada. The morkets are at it again, getting all scared in their boots. :P

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    Mute Réada Quinn
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    Dec 12th 2011, 9:16 PM

    I don’t thunk so either Spud. Even Mercozy will get fed up of being whores to those Market pimps. Oh sorry – wimps !

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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
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    Dec 13th 2011, 4:25 AM

    Can anyone say when the government are back after their Christmas break please

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    Mute corky2004
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    Dec 12th 2011, 7:48 PM

    In other words “Let’s just wait until the hype blows over and we’ll sneak it through in march”

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    Mute Niall Sheridan
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    Dec 12th 2011, 7:21 PM

    Yeah. Let’s not rush. Wasn’t it Brian Cowan who wanted to wait until March – and remember what happened him!!

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    Mute Ardo Ci
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    Dec 13th 2011, 12:33 AM

    Well said!

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    Mute Lou Brennan
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    Dec 12th 2011, 8:42 PM

    Well when the inner elite of the dail get their act together.
    Here’s my decision – No .
    And when their puppeteers give them a yank on their strings to re-run the whole show the answer will be still
    NO

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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Dec 13th 2011, 7:34 AM

    There act is together, it just doesn’t involve anything to do with Ireland’s best interests.

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    Mute Liam Hanrahan
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    Dec 12th 2011, 8:03 PM

    Ridiculous for people to be hoping we go back to the punt, we’d be crippled by inflation, our currency would be devalued all the time. We’d also be tied to sterling like in the 80s where any ups and downs in the uk forced changes on us ( punt was proportioned to sterling).

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Dec 12th 2011, 8:55 PM

    I suspect we are not likely to see much of either the Euro or a referendum in March as the beleaguered currency is already in trouble one working day after Merkosy’s latest feeble effort.
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-12/stocks-euro-commodities-fall-as-rating-companies-assess-summit.html

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    Mute Stephen Kearon
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    Dec 13th 2011, 1:16 AM

    well said Liam, also sterling is as vunerable, or not more so than Euro

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    Mute Bernadette Dunne
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    Dec 13th 2011, 4:32 AM

    The Irish pound and Pound sterling came about in the late 70′s around and it caused big hassle for a while but the after effects were hard in the eighties approx 87/88 we started to pay huge interest on mortgages 18% but if this Government do not get their act together we might have to call it a day for them
    How can we have confidence in them so how can we support such a doddery leadership of OUR STATE

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    Mute JeasusBigBalls
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    Dec 12th 2011, 7:45 PM

    He’s not into the Smartphones yet by that Pic. A good auld Nokia with Angela Dorothea on speed dial 1.

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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Dec 13th 2011, 7:32 AM

    I was just thinking that myself! what the hell decade is that phone from? My cat has a better phone than that.

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Dec 12th 2011, 9:08 PM

    The’re be a plenty of back scratching and belly tickling going on to fiddle this one between this and March. Constitutional lawyers will be doing the soft shoe shuffle at the Xmas parties all over town.

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    Mute Toureag
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    Dec 12th 2011, 8:17 PM

    Yawn…..

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    Mute Mike Hall
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    Dec 13th 2011, 12:18 AM

    Video of talk by Dr Heiner Flassbeck, former deputy finance minister of Germany speaking at the University of Texas. He explains how Germany manipulated & exacerbated the imbalances of the Eurozone. An attempt at ‘beggar thy neighbour’ that backfired, exposing the failure of neo liberal economics thinking that continues to offer ‘solutions’ that aren’t. Linked at nakedcapitalism.com here:

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/class-war-low-wages-and-beggar-thy-neighbor.html

    A must watch for Euro citizens. Some extraordinary honesty in this & excellent analysis.

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