Cork teenager born without limbs gives key UN speech

A CO CORK teenager born without arms or legs told delegates at a United Nations conference yesterday that technology was the limb she never had.

Joanne O’Riordan (16), who has a rare congenital condition, total amelia, delivered the keynote speech to the the UN’s International Telecommunication Union in New York.

She urged delegates at the conference of leading women in technology to work on building a robot to help her and others with disabilities to live fuller lives.

“I’m asking the women here, who are the leading women in their fields, to start doing what I do every day – think outside the box, to think of ways and means to make technology more accessible to the people who really need it. Women are better than men at most things, so why not technology too?

“The main thing the robot would be doing is picking up the objects I drop such as a pen, knife, fork, or my phone,” she said. “I want to live an independent life just like you.”

She told delegates how she had used technology to change her life “dramatically”.

She could with technology “do all the things my other friends were doing with their fingers. I was able to be as good as them, if not better.

“I can use my mobile phone, send texts, tweets, update my Facebook, play my PlayStation, Nintendo DS, iPad, iPod and laptop,” she told the meeting.

Without technology she would not be achieving her full potential. “In fact I think my life would be quite different to what it is now.”

She explained that she used her upper and bottom lip, chin, nose and hand to work these systems.

“Technology has opened up a world of possibilities, through which I have excelled in both my education and social environment around me.”

Ms O’Riordan said she began exploring the use of technology at the age of one. “I figured out how to use it by simply moving my ‘hand’ and chin at a faster speed. Today I can type 36 words a minute and for someone with no limbs, I think that’s an incredible achievement.”

Ms O’Riordan told delegates her motto in life was “no limbs, no limits”.

The Millstreet teenager flew from Shannon to New York with her parents and her elder brother, Steven O’Riordan, earlier this week.

She came to prominence in December when she challenged Taoiseach Enda Kenny over the Coalition’s plan to cut disability allowances for teenagers, a decision that was later reversed.

Ms O’Riordan was invited to speak by conference organisers after she appeared on The Late Late Show to talk about her condition last December.

The speech can be found at iti.ms/Kg5ewS