Discovering an ancestor contributed to my disability history research

Having researched both disability history and my own family history for many years, only in the last two years I discovered the story of my g-g-grandfather John McDonnell, a blind entrepreneur who was a co-founder of the League of the Blind in Dublin in 1898, it's branch chairman for some years and a man who was successfully elected as a Poor Law Governnor for the North Dublin Union during the Edwardian era.

This summer I was given a copy of John's 1916 Will by relatives in Dublin. When I wrote a book called Forward-The History of Birmingham Disability Resource Centre funded by HLF just 2 years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about this fascinating Irish ancestor - even though I made mention of the League of The Blind in my book as Britain and Ireland's very first example of a user led disability organisation. I hope to tell more of John's story soon.

Do you have stories of your Irish ancestors to share?