A young wheelchair user has appealed to dog owners to pick up their pet’s poo after his wheels were destroyed with excrement on his way to school
Cian Griffin, 11, from Ratoath, Co. Meath said he was ‘very sad’ when he got poo on his wheels, meaning his mother Niamh had to wheel him the rest of the way to St Paul’s School to ensure his hands were kept clean.
The child posted a video online which has been shared hundreds of times since it was posted on Monday night and Niamh has even received messages of support from as far away as New Zealand.
Cian, who has cerebral palsy, wheels himself to school most days and his twin brother Calvin runs in front to warn of any dog poo on the footpaths ahead.
In the video, he says: “I’m a full-time wheelchair user. I wheel myself all the way to school and I see a lot of dog poo on the ground.
“On one occasion, I accidentally rolled over the dog poo. My mam had to wheel me the rest of the way to school. It was very sad for me.
“I really wanted to wheel myself to school but there was dog poo all over my wheels.
“When we got there, me, my SNA Gillian and my mam had to clean the dog poo off the wheels and it took a lot of effort.
“I’m asking for a favour. I want everyone to clean up the dog poo from their dogs so Ratoath can be a clean place for me to wheel.”
His mother Niamh says she has been ‘shocked’ by the huge reaction to the video.
“My phone hasn’t stopped pinging since we posted it on Monday night. It’s a subject people feel very strongly about and I’ve received messages from other wheelchair users saying it was almost a daily occurrence for them,” she said
“We reached the school this morning and people were shouting at Cian with messages of support, that they were behind him all the way.
“I walk the boys to school each day and I encourage Cian to wheel himself. Calvin runs ahead to prevent his brother from wheeling through any on the footpaths.
“The poo is everywhere in Ratoath and I went to Dunboyne last week to visit my sister and we counted 15 poos on the footpath in the short distance from her house to SuperValu.
“My sister got some on her child’s buggy and only for she had wipes in her bag to clean it off, we couldn’t have gone into SuperValu and trudged it all across the floors
“We had enough at this point and Cian was delighted to raise awareness in a video. He’s very annoyed at it all and I don’t want to run the risk of him getting sick from getting poo on his hands from the wheels of his chair.
“There are so many good dog owners out there and one messaged me to say she brings extra bags to pick up the poo of other dogs - why should she have to do that?
“Please, all we are asking is that dog owners think about people in wheelchairs and parents with buggies who may unwittingly wheel their buggy into the house with dog poo on the wheels and then their toddler crawls through it. It’s about health and it’s about thinking of others.
“Cian is delighted with the reaction and we are so proud of him. As a child with Cerebral Palsy, he can’t go to birthday parties where there are trampolines or go karting but he never, ever complains.”
