'Make Way Day' in Athlone to highlight mobility obstacles in town

A national 'Make Way Day' event will take place in Athlone tomorrow (Friday) to highlight obstacles in public spaces which present a problem for people with disabilities, parents with buggies, and the elderly.

The Athlone Access Awareness group is involved in organising the local event, and participants are meeting at the canopy on Church Street at 11am on Friday.

Athlone Access Awareness said common issues of concern included cars parked on footpaths, street furniture, wheelie bins abandoned on paths, and low-hanging trees.

The motto of the local group is 'Together We Can Help Disable Inequality'.

Westmeath County Council said it was happy to work with the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) in supporting the rollout of 'Make Way Day' across the county tomorrow.

The DFI is encouraging people to use its online survey tool to gather information on the obstacles that they meet on their local streets. The tool is available now on www.makewayday.com.

Social media users are also being invited to share photos and videos tomorrow using the hashtag #MakeWayDay23.