A sixth-year student in Dublin with a disability has been left “sad and upset” after finding out he is being excluded from his debs.
James Casserly is a wheelchair user and the venue that was chosen by his classmates to host their debs is not suitable for his needs.
James’ family has tried everything, from contacting the school to Debs Ireland, but no solution has been found to the accessibility issue.
On Lunchtime Live today, his mother Vicki Casserly, a Fine Gael councillor for Dublin South, said her son has been left “deeply upset” by the situation.
“James wants to share his story now because he wouldn’t like to see it happen to anyone else,” she said.
“The venue is not accessible and from our point, James has been in this school for five years as a wheelchair user so this should have been considered in the conversations that took place.
“Mistakes do happen, regardless of age, especially if it’s not something you live with, it might not be something you’d automatically think of.
“But when the matter was identified it should have been solved.”
James Casserly, who is being excluded from his debs. Image: Supplied.Vicki said her son feels like nobody cares about him.
“He was really sad and really upset,” she said.
“James is an incredible advocate for disability, access and inclusion.
“In his own words, he just felt like nobody cares and as a parent, when you hear that, it’s heart-wrenching.”
'Emotional time'
She said finishing school is already an emotional time for students.
“When you get to that last hurdle, an emotional time anyway when finishing secondary school, it’s difficult," she said.
“James has been through so much, neurosurgeries, the whole lot, but he always puts his best foot forward.
“He wants to share this because he doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else, that’s all he wants, for it not to happen to anyone else.”
Debs
Vicki said staff in school have been “phenomenal” with James over the years and are still working on solutions that would allow him to attend the debs.
“But the problem is if it’s still the same venue, from our research we know that it won’t work,” she said.
There are around 40,000 wheelchair users living in Ireland.
You can listen back here:
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