The launch by Anthony Jordan (Director of CPI on Sandymount Ave.) of his new book was a casual, almost impromptu affair– just like, I imagine, Christy Brown would have liked it.
He would have chuckled over the title: ‘Christy Brown’s Women – a biography’.

And Christy would especially have liked the dedication to his mother, who always had faith in his ability and spent much time in between her 22 pregnancies (and raising 13 surviving children) helping him learn to read and write.

She knew her Christy was a child with intelligence despite his severe handicap, and refused to listen to the doctors when they told her that this child was a hopeless case. The stubbornness to never give up influenced Christy throughout his life from his birth in 1932 until his death in 1981.
In fact, Christy with the aid of his family, his ‘women’ and Dr. Collis was to prove them wrong. He went on to become an accomplished writer, poet and painter and he was also to learn how to partially control his muscles so that he could walk.

His mother, Bridget, was determined to give him an independent life and his siblings took him everywhere except to school. One of the brothers made the boxcar for Christy, which enabled him to go on the streets and be with other children.

Christy enjoyed a gargle because, while other people’s speech deteriorated, his got better! If he hadn’t been afflicted he’d probably have been a bricklayer just like his father and the rest of his brothers. Eamon, Christy’s younger brother, said that they’d take it in turns to write down what was dictated by Christy. And such big words too!

Katriona McGuire said she believed that, apart from Helen Keller, Christy was the first to articulate the difficulties of his handicap. When he was 11, he could only speak in grunts and she had difficulty in understanding him. As a social worker, she first visited the family on a professional basis and then as a friend.

Other significant women in Christy’s life would have been Dr. Patricia Sheehan, Dr. Mary O’Donnell, and all his sisters. He also kept up a long-standing correspondence over 15 years with the American, Beth Moore, who gave him much encouragement and helped him to write his second book, ‘Down All The Days’.

Meanwhile, in 1949, Dr. Collis and Mr. Summerville Large formed a committee of people interested in helping handicapped children.

It was at a Christmas party organised by the Bone Marrow Fund that Dr. Collis first saw Christy. He remembered Christy as “a small, elfish figure with a strange, grey face, a -childish Michelangelo aura of beauty.”

It was this first sight of Christy Brown which “finally gave him the impetus to begin his study of cerebral palsy”. From this chance encounter Cerebral Palsy Ireland evolved.

Today, there are several centres, and the one in Tralee has been named after Christy Brown.
In the Sandymount CPI a portrait of Christy, and also one of Robert Collis (who died in 1975 after falling from his horse), also hang in prominent positions.

For me, Christy Brown has always been special. As a child, after reading his books, ‘My Left Foot’ and ‘Down All the Days’, I knew that I, too, could achieve anything or as Christy says: “The first great thirst of mind is satisfaction.”

In 1969, at a David Frost TV show in London, Christy first met Mary Carr, a native of Kerry. He had discovered real love and in 1972 they married.

Christy never saw himself as handicapped, he had found his voice and with a passion allowed the world to hear it through his writings.

He has been honoured for that work. In the Writer’s Museum, Parnell Square is a bronze bust of Christy Brown.

Anthony Jordan’s book ‘Christy Brown’s Women’, which focuses on letters from Christy to people whom he knew and loved, brings an unusual slant to Christy’s life, and also covers the founding of CPI by Robert Collis.

It’s a book which I would recommend to buy, not only for yourself, but all your friends. If you can’t get it in the bookshops then try the CPI centre in Sandymount.

Top, Left to right: Dr. Mary O’Donnell, Catriona McGuire, Mona Byrne and Anne Jones