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When Peggy O'Neill, who has died aged 79, arrived in the world with physical and intellectual disabilities, she was given a life expectancy of 12 years. She was born at a time when little understanding, support or education existed for people with a learning disability.
Peggy was a spirited and vivacious child growing up in Dublin. Hers was a loving family; she was the third of four children of Laurence (Lar) and May (nee Gibney), veterans of the Irish war of independence and the Irish civil war. As she had difficulty walking and was in callipers for several years, Peggy was largely confined to the family home, though her mother took her out walking regularly to strengthen her legs.
Although her speech had little sentence structure, she used her small vocabulary with great intelligence and an acute comic timing, so much so that the family coined the phrase "Peggyisms". As her three siblings married and had families, she became a magic figure for her nieces and nephews, who delighted in her cheeky and roguish behaviour.
By the time Peggy was 40, her father had died and her mother was finding it hard to manage her needs; Sally, Peggy's sister, began a search for a new home for her. This led in 1975 to the recently founded Camphill Village community at Duffcarrig in North Wexford. Camphill maintains communities together with people with disabilities, and Duffcarrig was the first village to be established in the Republic of Ireland.
There Peggy blossomed, becoming a competent store-keeper, laundry and home-help, and loved living with the young children in the house. With her strong work ethic she ruled the kitchen. Peggy liked drama in life and despite her raucous laugh and almost military direction of others, was much loved for her talent to entertain. Sally, an artist, helped Peggy to explore her skills as a painter. She had a love of tasteful clothes and many friends. I had the privilege of living as a carer with Peggy for her last three months.
Peggy is survived by her brother Con, and by four nephews and six nieces.
