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Welcome to the new and improved email version of Spoke Out, Irish Wheelchair Association's membership magazine.

Dear contact.firstname,

We are committed to continually improving the services we provide to you, our members. Through this magazine we hope to inform, engage and even entertain you on a monthly basis. So please, take some time out to take a read of what we have prepared for you. 

We thought this would be a good time to remind you that your Customer Care Department is available to answer your queries, listen and we welcome your feedback. 

Here are some of the ways you can get in touch:

• Contacting Customer Care at customercare@iwa.ie
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys - takes place once a year
• Communication and Engagement Weeks - taking place in our 59 centres in early October.
• Complaints can be made here.

These communication channels are vital towards keeping us informed on the issues you care about most so please do engage with them where possible.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank those who took part in this year's Customer Satisfaction Survey, the full report will be made available by the end of the month.

Thank you.

Don't forget your data is in your hands and you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking this link. 

Each month we'll bring you a spotlight feature on a member, service, volunteer or employee. If you would like us to feature something here please email us.

This month we headed to Drogheda for our spotlight feature on our Young Adult Service.

As schools and colleges re-open this month, many IWA buildings around the country will also be transformed into buzzing epicentres of education thanks to our innovative Young Adults (formerly School Leaver) Service.

Providing vital life-enhancing skills to enable people with disabilities to live more independent lives, the benefits to students have been far-reaching.

For 21-year-old Jamie, who attends in Drogheda, it has meant completing a QQI level 5 Health Care qualification, something he never thought would ever be possible.

“It has been life-changing for me, has turned my whole life around, I never would have had the confidence to do the course before doing the IWA program.”

Read on for the full story.

Home Truths : A sneak preview of our upcoming housing campaign exclusively for you.

‘Home Truths: Because everyone deserves a place to call home’ is a new awareness campaign being launched by Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA), next Tuesday September 19th, to highlight the lived experience of people with disabilities in the housing market, and to expose the barriers IWA members face to secure wheelchair liveable housing.   

Supported under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission  Grant Scheme the project will be officially launched by Minister Anne Rabbitte, Minister of State for Disability.
That's all we can say for now but please watch our social media channels for more.

Irish Wheelchair Association volunteers play a vital role in our organisation and we would like to thank each and every one of you for continuing to give your time so generously. Volunteering varies from sports clubs, charity shops, branches and our Board of Directors to local community centres and we look forward to sharing more about their amazing work with you over the coming months.

In case you haven’t heard, our annual fundraising day takes place on Thursday September 28th 2023 and we are seeking volunteers to help out on this day. Bucket collections will be held nationwide, please register with Ciaran here. Thank you.

If you are the adventurous type you can also support by taking part in our inclusive fundraising abseil event which takes place at Dalkey Quarry in Dublin on Sunday, September 24th.  Find out more or sign up today via this link.

A huge welcome back to all our clubs who are just returning after a well-earned summer break. There wasn't much downtime over the summer months for many of our International athletes. Our Para Athletics athletes competed at the Czech Open Competitions returning home with some extra baggage as did our Para Powerlifters who travelled to Dubai to compete in the junior and senior Para Powerlifting World Championships. Congratulations to both teams and to the coaches, management team, clubs and parents who supported the athletes in their preparation for these competitions.

Last weekend we welcomed the return of the Wheelchair Basketball domestic action and looking forward to  September 24th, we will see a team of 13 IWA Sport Members travel to Athens for Par-Olympia and the opening round of the Irish League gets underway on October 7th. Read on for more in sport and ways to get involved.

PS: Huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Liberty Insurance Run 'n' Roll last weekend. You can check out all the photos from this amazing event here.

Áras Chúchulainn Blackheath Drive Clontarf, Dublin 3.

Tel: 01 818 6400 | Email: info@iwa.ie

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