Activist Joanne O’Riordan has told how if she was born with limbs she would not be the woman she is today.
With a career in sports journalism and a pioneer of new technology to create a better life for those with disabilities Joanne is a woman on top who lives by the motto ‘No limbs, no limits’.
The 23-year-old was born with a rare condition Tetra Amelia Syndrome.
Joanne told Women on Top: “I was born without all of my limbs but physically I’m fine, healthwise.
“I have no limbs whatsoever, no arms and no legs.
She quipped: “I go around in my chair, I call it my car, it’s an electric wheelchair, I’m all arse and all shoulder.
“There’s only seven other people in the world with my condition, one is from England and another in Australia, she shark dives and paints with her mouth for a living.”
Treated no differently to her five siblings, the young woman said her parents approach has stood to her.
She said: “My mother and father never treated me any differently than any of my other siblings, they let them throw me around and do different things.
“They just saw me as a completely independent child, I had to yell for attention as I’m the youngest. My mam is a typical Irish mammy at the end of the day, she’s very strong willed, very determined, if you tell them no she’ll happily go against you.
“She had four other people growing up, it wasn’t like I was the first and she thought it was her fault, it was just a thing that happened to our family and that was it, nobody else paid attention.
“My older brother Dennis said if anyone said anything smart to me he’d beat them up.
“When I go home it’s my family who make the smart comments, it’s not a bad thing in our family we laugh and joke about it. We accept it as a fact of life.
Joanne’s love of sport began at home.
She said: “When I was younger I was always playing football, I’ve always been interested in sport, my siblings would take me out to play, they put me in goal and they kicked the balls at me.
“They’d just throw footballs at me and hope for the best, if they hit off me so be it.
“I’m the only person in my family who can swim, I go on my back and do butterfly, front crawl, I can do all the strokes. I’m very lucky I do yoga every week in the Himylayan yoga valley centre, the instructor saw me as a challenge.
“When we think of yoga you think of throwing your leg over your head, with him I focus on doing deep breathing, meditating and working on my core balance.”
Ever happy with her lot she said: “I’m very lucky, I’m a positive person in general, if I’m in a bad mood I’ll take it out on somebody and they’ll know or else I’ll rant it out.
“Everything I lack I gain in other areas, if I had limbs I’d be a normal person in among the crowd, doing the same thing as everyone else. Having no limbs has put me in a different spotlight and given me different platforms to express myself.
With her sports journalism career on the rise and her Red FM podcast launching, the sky’s the limit for Joanne.
She added: “Things that I enjoy doing, I’ve always wanted to work in media since I was small and doing all the different work that I do, I would just be a normal CV if I was applying for Red FM. I have gained in other areas, I don’t get angry about it, there are a lot of pros for me at the moment.
The UCC Criminology graduate said her career could still go in many directions.
She said: “I always joke I might get into it in the future, there’s loads of crime in sport from drug use to money laundering, I’m sure I’ll find a niche.”
In 2011, Enda Kenny was on the campaign trail and whilst Joanne was sitting her mocks her mom allowed her to skip out to meet him.
She said: “When I met him on the canvass a local radio station asked me if I’d like to ask him anything, so I asked what he’d do to protect people with disabilities.
“He said he’d do everything in his power if he got elected but once he got in, in the budget for that year he made a cut to disability benefits.
“I wrote a letter to the Taoiseach through the Irish Examiner telling him how the cut would affect not just me but anyone with a disability.
Her strength and determination would lead to international attention.
She explained: “The cut was then overturned and so I was asked onto the Late Late Show and I talked about how my chair and how technology was giving me the power to break boundaries.
“So then I was invited over to the UN to talk about technology, it was 2012 on my 16th birthday.
“If I had limbs I would have been a normal freak in the crowd looking to get a picture with Enda Kenny and I would never have got to go to the UN.”
Joanne’s brother Stephen documented her inner strength in his award winning documentary No limbs No Limits, she added: “I’ve never seen the documentary.
“There’s nothing more embarrassing than listening back to yourself, but it’s been seen by 15 million people worldwide in over 20 countries.
The busy activist has teamed up with magazine Silicon Republic and Solvers to forge ways technology can help people with disabilities at home.
She said: “If you’re living with a disability, it’s about how to make your house do things for you, like turning on the lights, putting the kettle on, changing the music to suit your mood.
As for her love life, there’s simply no time, but the strong willed Corkonian has not ruled out having a family: “I could have children, I know a guy in America who has done it and Australia too but it’s different for a girl.
“You never know I’m not swiping at Tinder left and right, I’m having fun with my friends.”
Being pitied is not on Joanne’s radar: “People were sometimes overly helpful but from three years of age I’d tell them I’ll do it myself, if I needed help, I’d ask for it.
“Kids look at me and ask questions, but I don’t mind if I was them and I saw me coming on to a Luas or a train I’d be curious.
“I’d be staring too because I’m a curious person, you can always suss out a person if they’re smart but 99 per cent of the time people are cool.
This Woman on Top’s advice to anyone with a disability: “If you are having a down day get it out of your system, but in general, be proud of yourself, be proud of your differences and accept you for your uniqueness.”
