Inclusion award for ‘Irish Examiner’ reporter

Irish Examiner journalist Jennifer Hough has been presented with a special award at the Inclusion Ireland annual conference in Wexford.

Jennifer, who has written extensively and with great passion for this newspaper on the issue of disability, won the Inclusion Ireland Media Award for 2012.

Expressing her delight last night, she said: “I feel very proud and privileged to get this award. Inclusion Ireland is a fantastic organisation and does great work. I am glad to have been able to play a part in bringing the experiences and personal stories of those with intellectual disabilities to public attention.”

Since joining the newspaper in 2008, Ms Hough, a graduate in English and journalism from NUI Galway, has campaigned for greater transparency in the treatment of those with intellectual disability and has highlighted, in particular, the overuse of drugs in residential institutions.

“There is an over-medicalisation of the disability services and there are still thousands of people living in congregated settings,” she said.

She also helped expose the poor living conditions experienced by many residents in some institutions and lamented the lack of adequate independent inspections of facilities.

Last July, Jennifer focused on Paul O’Sullivan, 44, a resident of the Grove House HSE facility attached to St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Cork. Paul, who cannot communicate due to his autism, and who exhibits challenging behaviour, has been living in residential care homes since 1976.

The moving account of Paul’s life behind closed doors and his sister Marcella’s efforts to improve his treatment prompted Kathleen Lynch, minister of state at the Department of Health, to visit the unit and pledge that the Health Information and Quality Authority would operate a full inspectorate of institutions like Grove House.

“I am glad to be able to play my part in highlighting issues like this and to give a voice to the voiceless,” said Jennifer.