UCC HOPES FOR JOANNE O'RIORDAN: I want to get points for course on criminology

Inspirational teenager and disability rights champion Joanne O’Riordan hopes to bag enough Leaving Certificate points today to pursue a new criminology course in University College Cork (UCC).

But Joanne, 18, from Millstreet in Co Cork, said she was also looking forward to moving out of home and living independently in campus accommodation.

“All my friends live within 15 minutes of the college and I’ve already checked out an apartment, and everything seems to be in check so all that’s left now is the points,” she said.

Irish Examiner columnist Joanne, who forced Enda Kenny into a U-turn on disability cuts, and addressed an influential UN body, admitted yesterday that sitting the Leaving Certificate last June was one of the most dramatic things she has ever done.

“Being in a room by myself with a piece of paper was more petrifying. It’s scary enough,” she told TV3’s Late Lunch Live.

“I wasn’t nervous but now, thinking back, I’m thinking should I have done this thing differently; should I have studied more; why didn’t I physically look at the book? — things like that.

“It’s a piece of paper but it kind of determines your life. People say it doesn’t, but without it, you’re gone.”

She said she isn’t daunted by the prospect of moving out of home and fending for herself.

“I’m just so excited to finally go out by myself, and be with people my own age, and have fun,” she said.

“I’m just going to live a normal life like everyone else.”

The former Millstreet Community School student is one of a handful of people in the world with total Amelia — she was born without limbs.

Joanne made a worldwide plea at a UN conference two years ago for engineers to construct a robot that could act as a personal assistant for her.

The School of Engineering at Trinity took up the challenge and have built a 4ft 7in robot called Robbie.

Earlier this year, her brother, Steven, released his film, No Limbs, No Limits, charting her remarkable life to date.