Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Activist and teacher who campaigns for disability equality and inclusion; appeared on Vogue cover and advised the Irish President as part of his Council of Stat
On the island
Eight records
Like a GirlFavourite
she is proud of who she is and the body that she lives in. And her anthems tell us, however you define yourself, whatever way you feel, that's valid, that's real, and you're enough as you are.
straight after I finished speaking, the musical guest came on and it was Sophie Tucker… And they sang the song called A Woo… this song holds a really special place in my heart.
One of the tracks that I can't listen to without thinking of my parents is this one… It's one of their favorites and I wouldn't be able to do Desert Island Discs without honoring them.
the only thing that really got me through that moment in a way was listening to Billie Eilish's You Should See Me in a Crown because I was trying to embody her confidence in a moment in which I was just disgustingly nervous.
There are so many songs that could mark that moment, but it's going to have to be Nina Smoan's I Put a Spell on You.
He said, Will you play that song? And it began to echo out over the classroom… it was becoming a way to bring home and school so together.
it would be ridiculous to not have a song on this playlist that doesn't hint towards fashion in some way. So this is Madonna's Vogue.
I miss home, and one of my best memories is being in a car with a friend in a cab and looking at the New York skyline as we drove down the quay of the river… listening to this song… just for three minutes, feeling like we weren't so far away.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:01How language is used is very important to you. You said it can be a force for good and something less so. Tell me a little bit more about that.
I used to define myself and describe myself as just Sinead, and never really seeing myself as disabled or using that language. But actually what I was doing was erasing my disability and attaching shame and stigma to it… And I am now very proudly a disabled woman.
Presenter asks
2:01I think it's probably wise that we start with some of the language. How language is used is very important to you. You said that it can be a force for good and it could be something less so. Tell me a little bit more about that.
I used to define myself and describe myself as just Sinead, and never really seeing myself as disabled or using that language. But actually what I was doing was erasing my disability and attaching shame and stigma to it… And I am now very proudly a disabled woman.
Presenter asks
2:40You successfully campaigned to get the Irish Language Dictionary to include a direct translation of 'Little Person'. Tell me how that came about.
The keepsakes
The book
Your Silence Will Not Protect You
Audre Lorde
I'm going to take Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audrey Lord, who is one of the writers that I have learned so much from about speaking truth to power, systemic injustices, and the fact that until we are all free, none of us are really free.
The luxury
All of the women in my family are connected via a beautiful necklace that we each wear. It was gifted to us on our eighteenth birthdays and we collectively gifted my mother one. And I think being on a distant desert island, it would be a lovely piece of luxury, but also a piece of my family.
I remember being kind of seventeen doing my final year exams… I couldn't describe myself in language that I was comfortable with… I ended up calling myself a dwarf… I thought, there has to be a way to change this… So boldly, I just emailed [the government department]… and the direct translation of Little Person is Dina Bjug, and within 48 hours it was in the dictionary.
Presenter asks
3:46You're hugely passionate and very persuasive. Where does the confidence to do that come from? Have you always had it?
I describe myself as an extroverted introvert. I am never happier than being in my own company with a book or listening to some music. But the world has made me be an extrovert… from the earliest of ages I was the centre of attention… I knew… if I wanted to thrive… I would have to get really good at stepping outside of my own discomfort and introducing myself.
Presenter asks
5:40You've described the public bathroom as a symbol of human rights. Why? What does its design represent to you?
The right to dignity is so important, and yet so often not considered… My experience of going to a public bathroom… is really difficult… I probably can't reach the lock on the door… I also can't reach the sink… we have become so focussed designing a world for one specific type of person that our lens has been so narrow.
Presenter asks
6:45You talked about attracting attention. What form does it take and how do you handle it?
Being pointed at, stared at. People will often take photographs or videos without your consent. I had an instance… where two sixteen year old boys walked past me… and about thirty seconds later one of them leapfrogged over me from behind… And his accomplice recorded the entire thing on his phone. I mean, the first person I rang was my mum, and I was just crying.
“I am now very proudly a disabled woman. And for me as a little person, that's the terminology that I prefer.”
“The reason why I would be doing it would be to skew slightly closer to the world's definition of normality. And that might make it easier to make friends. But at 11, I decided that if people didn't want to be my friend because I was a little person, they weren't the kind of friends that I needed in my life.”
“I wanted to thank the queer community for not just welcoming me and accepting me, but for giving me permission to discover who I was.”
“It just makes the most difficult moments worth it… you realise that maybe even just for a second you make a child's life easier or you give them permission to dream that they can do it too.”
“I think my job now is still being a teacher. I think my students are just like CEOs and creative directors of fashion companies and corporations… the skills that I learned in the classroom are exactly what is making me successful at the work that I'm doing right now.”