Joanne O'Riordan (born 24 April 1996) is an Irish activist and sports journalist who contributes to ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

.'' From

Millstreet Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland, with a population of 1,555 (as of 2016). Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasses the civil ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, she is one of seven currently living people born with the condition

Tetra-amelia syndrome Tetra-amelia syndrome (''tetra-'' + '' amelia''), also called autosomal recessive tetraamelia, is an extremely rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Other areas of the body are also affected b ...

. She has addressed the United Nations and discussed technology with

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) and

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

. She was named "

Person of the Year __NOTOC__ Person of the Year or Man of the Year is an award given to an individual by any type of organization. Most often, it is given by a newspaper or other news outlet to annually recognize a public person. Such awards have typically been awa ...

" in both 2012 and 2013.

Activism

After developing "a random obsession" with

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

leader and prospective

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

, she took the morning off school to meet Kenny during the

2011 Irish general election The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachtaí Dála across 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas. The Dáil was dissolved and the general electi ...

campaign. Kenny was filmed vowing that he would not reduce disability funding if elected. Upon election, Kenny cut disability funding and O'Riordan wrote a letter of disappointment. Her public confrontation with Enda Kenny contributed to O'Riordan's increased profile. The government later changed its mind. She later explained: "I thought Enda Kenny was a cool guy, you know, he always seemed really relaxed, and easy going. So I only went up for a picture and one of our local people from home was like ‘why don't you ask him about people with disabilities’, so I did and the local television were recording because it was a big thing for Millstreet, our Future Taoiseach coming. I suppose it was one really small thing that you just do and it just turned into a big thing." An invitation to appear on '' The Late Late Show'' followed. This brought her further attention. Ahead of her second appearance on June 2012, ''

'' described O'Riordan as "one of the guests on the show in recent years who has made the most impact on viewers". In April 2012, O'Riordan spoke before the United Nations in New York City, giving an address on the use of technology and challenging those present to build a robot for her to use. A standing ovation followed. Her brother Steven made a film of her life, titled ''No Limbs No Limits''.

Awards and honours

O'Riordan has received a Cork Person of the Month award, having been nominated by MEP

Brian Crowley Brian Donal Crowley (born 4 March 1964) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South constituency from 1994 to 2019. He served as a Senator from 1993 to 1994, after being nomin ...

. In September 2012, she was named Young Person of the Year at Ireland's

People of the Year Awards The People of the Year Awards was an annual award show in Ireland. Organised by the Rehab Group, it was televised by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The Awards provided a unique opportunity for the Irish public to honour outstanding contributi ...

. In 2014, she was awarded the

Junior Chamber International Junior Chamber International, commonly referred to as JCI, is a non-profit international non-governmental organization of young people between and years old. It has members in about 124 countries, and regional or national organizations in mo ...

Outstanding Young Person of the Year award. She was Grand Marshall at Dublin's St Patrick's Festival parade in 2016, the youngest ever.

References

External links

Speech
at the United Nations
"No Limbs No Limits"
documentary/film on the life of Joanne O'Riordan

''Sunday Independent'', 3 March 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oriordan, Joanne 1996 births Living people 2011 Irish general election Enda Kenny Irish amputees Irish people with disabilities Irish sports journalists Millstreet People from County Cork People with tetra-amelia syndrome The Irish Times people

Activism

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links