Helen Guinan

Helen Guinan spent most of her career working with, or on behalf of, children and young adults with intellectual, physical and sensory disabilities. She has been closely involved over many years in policy development and policy implementation at national level with a number of organisations, including the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the National Council for Special Education, and the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies. In this work, she gained a national and international perspective on advancements and improvements for persons with disabilities. She spent 10 years as Principal in St. Paul’s School, Cork,which caters for students with complex needs. She started her four year term of office as Chairperson of the National Disability Authority in September 2015. The National Disability Authority is a statutory body responsible for providing independent evidence informed advice and information to the Government to guide policy and practice to achieve equal participation of persons with disabilities in economic, social and cultural life. It also has operates the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, the only statutory Centre in the world, which has a wider brief and statutory functions to promote universal design of the built environment, products, services and ICT so that they can be used with ease by everyone regardless of age, size, ability or disability. The Centre works with many stakeholders including educational institutions, professional bodies, standards bodies and industry. It has statutory functions to guide on standards at national and international level and to work with
professional bodies and educational institutions with regard to curriculum on universal design for professionals and those working in the area of design