Unable to secure schooling for her son, Patricia Farrell, the mother of a young boy with Down Syndrome placed an ad in the Irish Times in 1955: "Association for Parents of Mentally Backward Children. Lady wishing to form above would like to contact anyone interested. Box Z 5061 Children."

From this grew St. Michael's House, an organisation which set out to develop new community services and bring about a change in how people with an intellectual disability were viewed. Today we provide services for 1,550 people with an intellectual disability and their families in the Greater Dublin Area.