Frank Larkin (1972 – 27 March 2020) was an Irish

disability rights activist The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all disabled people. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocates, around t ...

. He was one of the most prominent such figures in his country.

Biography

Larkin was born with the birth defect

spina bifida Spina bifida (SB; ; Latin for 'split spine') is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebral column, spine and the meninges, membranes around the spinal cord during embryonic development, early development in pregnancy. T ...

. He stated that his "will to campaign" came from "the frustrations I experience relating to having a disability". He ran for Letterkenny Town Council as a Fine Gael candidate in the 2009 elections, but was unsuccessful. He attended a hearing on disability issues at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in 2012. Larkin was elected chairperson of his country's national campaign for disabilities in 2013. He was one of twenty participants from fourteen different countries chosen to attend a conference in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in March 2014. In 2015, Larkin became involved in a dispute with

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over posts it decided were not offensive, among which was an advertisement for a spina bifida doll that encouraged the buyer to abuse it. He thought about deleting his account but instead he led a petition against the posts, which was ultimately successful. In 2016, Larkin became involved in a dispute with the makers of ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' over the language used by character David Platt to his grandmother Audrey Roberts in an episode of the TV series. Also that year, he worked on an accessibility guide for his local area. He represented his country at the European Network for Independent Living in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 2019. Larkin was a sports enthusiast who followed the English

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team

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. Among the issues he spoke out against were being sent two tickets for each football game he attended, one of which he had to pay for and intended for a companion which he did not need; illegal parking in disabled spaces; measures imposed by government on disabled people; discrimination by taxi drivers; and securing parking spaces outside court for disabled people. Larkin died suddenly in hospital in 2020 at the age of 48. He had been active in calling for disability access to

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English, British English and Canadian English although a polling place is the building and polling station is the specific ...

s in the weeks before his death. Days before he died, he had been admiring the weather. He was survived by his wife Pauline, his mother Brighdin, his father Frank Snr and his siblings: Louise, Geraldine, Olga, Sharon, Linda, Paul and Gareth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Frank 1972 births 2020 deaths Irish disability rights activists People from Letterkenny People with spina bifida Irish activists with disabilities 21st-century Irish people

Biography

See also

References