Hannah all set for Tralee festival
Wednesday August 20 2008
Hannah McDonnell is the 22-year-old Dublin Rose and she ‘can’t wait’ for the festival to begin and was busy sorting her wardrobe out for the festival when the Fingal Independent spoke to her last week.
It is the second time the young Kilsallaghan woman has been involved in the festival. She made it to the final of the London Rose competition when she studied in the English capital a couple of years ago.
This time around she won the sash of Dublin Rose and she is hugely looking forward to representing her county at the world-famous festival. ‘I can’t wait to get going – it will be brilliant.
It is like a holiday of a lifetime and experience of a lifetime rolled into one,’ Hannah told the Fingal Independent. Hannah is the artistic director of See-Saw Theatre Company, a theatre company made up of actors and actresses with learning disabilities.
In 2007 she graduated from London Metropolitan University with an honours degree in performing arts, having studied in both London and New York.
The social and cultural participation of people with disabilities is one of the themes she is promoting in her reign as the Dublin Rose.
The young Kilsallaghan woman has dyslexia and dyspraxia but it has failed to hinder any of her considerable achievements. Her involvement in the arts and latterly with the Rose of Tralee festival has boosted her confidence dramatically and she wants to show everyone that they can find a way to achieve their goals ‘no matter how unconventional the path you take’.
She is uncomfortable with words like ‘inspiration’ and ‘role model’ but her presence in the competition is sure to inspire young people struggling with their relationship with their disabilities and other people’s perception of them.
The population of Rolestown and Kilsallaghan, where the McDonnells are well known in the community, will be glued to their television sets later this month and supporting the local girl along with the Rainbow 13 Arch Club where she volunteers and St Michael’s House where she works as a care assistant.
