Horror upon horror.Woes begetting woes.

The country is still reeling after seeing the barbarity shown to the residents of Áras Attracta. This was quickly followed up yesterday by a HIQA report on the Redwood Extended Care Facility in Meath which used restraints 770 times in eleven months on people with learning disabilities. There were also reports of over-use of medication. We heard the reality of what that means when Chris Donoghue spoke to the relatives of two former residents whose lives were thrown into chaos once they entered Redwoood.

A great little country.

There were some rays of hope, however. An online campaign to send as many Christmas cards to Áras Attracta to show Mary, Mary and Ivy we love them and they are in our thoughts shows us what community means.

Then in our darkest hour, we heard a voice of forgivenesss. Shelia Ryan is the sister of Mary Garvin, one of the women featured in the Prime Time programme. While most of us would feel disgust and hatred towards those who inflicted such cruelty, Shelia showed that most amazing of human traits – Forgiveness. Here is what she said:

Would I be so forgiving? I spent the week remembering County Mayo was the home of the Boycott so those words were inspiring.

Another set of words might act as a source of inspiration. Monday brought news that Stella Young had died. You may have not heard of her but Stella was a comedian, disability advocate and editor of ABC's Ramp Up website, the online space for news, discussion and opinion about disability in Australia. She sprang to world attention when she gave a TedX talk in Sydney.

Here it is:

It would be a great memorial to her and a way of celebrating the lives of the residents of Áras Attracta if we took her words to heart and treated our disabled fellow citizens as just that, citizens.