DCU Voices

DCU VOICES 40 Catherine lays down the law Two-time DCU graduate and current PhD student, Catherine Gallagher has secured a landmark legislative change on scholarship entitlements for people with disabilities, reports Shauna Bowers Catherine Gallagher is well accustomed to writing headlines, but in recent months she has also been creating them. The DCU journalism and political communications graduate, who is currently undertaking a doctorate in the School of Communications, sparked a recent change in legislation which removed a barrier to people with disabilities from furthering their education. After being awarded a scholarship to pursue a doctorate, she learned that she would lose her disability allowance, and associated travel and medical card allowances, if she accepted the €16,000 scholarship stipend. “It was heartbreak. The worst kind of heartbreak I have felt,” she says. “Physically, I lost power in my legs. I can walk, but my physical strength was completely depleted for about two or three days just from the shock of it.” However, following a political and media campaign, the success of which Catherine attributes to her journalism training, the legislation was amended last March by Minister Heather Humphreys. This means scholarship awards for PhD students are now excluded from the means test for disability allowance. “The pace of change by ministerial order was fascinating. It was off the charts fast,” says Catherine. “It’s a very niche issue but it’s a big one.” The legislative change was named ‘Catherine’s Law’. How did that recognition make her feel? “It was a very nice gesture and it does recognise the effort that I went to. But I would say that the issue was longstanding before me and I don’t want to take all of the credit because people did come before me,” says Catherine. Now that the barrier has been removed, Catherine is excited to be researching media and political communications on Covid-19 in Ireland. “I caught the research bug pretty much around Christmas time during my masters. I began expressing interest in staying on to do a PhD,” she says. “I really, really enjoyed it and I thought it was a nice stage in my life where I don’t have any substantial commitment to mortgages or family or anything like that.” But just because she will be focusing on political communication, that doesn’t mean her work advocating for the rights of people with disabilities is over. “I think the masters, in particular, really helped me in terms of understanding the importance of political engagement and how to bring about change and how to communicate that. And my involvement with the disability movement in Ireland means it’s not something I’ve ever shied away from,” she says. “Unfortunately the disability movement hasn’t seen the level of exponential change that we’ve seen with equality in marriage or the 8th amendment. If society and political actors valued us and collaborated with us in a meaningful way that would mean so much.” “The pace of change by ministerial order was fascinating. It was off the charts fast. It’s a very niche issue but it’s a big one.” Shauna Bowers (BA Journalism, 2018) Journalist with Irish Times Group @shaunabowerss Catherine Gallagher (BA Journalism, 2019 andMA Political Communications, 2020); PhDResearcher at DCU