Jane Madden
My name is Jane, I’m a final BESS student specialising in business and I have Developmental Coordination Disorder also known as Dyspraxia. The idea of this project stemmed from Erwing Goffman’s social masks, as we all employ many different masks every day depending on who were interacting with. This got me thinking as women with disabilities often have to employ more than just a few social masks to keep up with societal norms and expectations. Due to this, females often go misdiagnosed in the system as they have this great ability to conform and this can lead to then being perceived as odd, scatter brained, and inattentive (these were some of the labels I use to be known by). When I got my diagnosis at 14, I lived in denial for five years, I basically kept my “secret“ hidden and refused all the supports offered to me in the fear I would be perceived as bizarre by my peers. It’s only when I fortunately got into Trinity on the DARE scheme and met some other people in college with invisible disabilities that I decided to become more comfortable with my DCD. Over the last three or so years, I’ve actively campaigned for the rights of disabled students both in Ireland and France and this year, I’m very glad to be the first ever Ability Co-op committee where we have strived to better the student life of students with disabilities on campus. I would like to thank Rachel and Courtney, my fellow committee members and close friends for helping me facilitate this project, I couldn’t have done it out without ye! I would also like to thank Sarah, Carla, Jani and Claudia for agreeing to be apart of the podcast, it was both empowering and inspiring to hear your stories, ye should be very proud of yourselves! I would also like to thank Harry and Moria, for editing the podcast and everyone else who helped with the testimonials and social media. My heart is so full and I appreciate every single one of you!”
