Ainsley McLean

ESR Project Title: Disability, Old Age and the Life Course: Voices of Experience

Email: ainsleykim.mclean@universityofgalway.ie

Office: +353 91 494015

Ainsley originally obtained a Bachelor of Nursing degree whereby she worked for several years within the public disability sector as a registered nurse. Ainsley also has an extensive background working as a nurse in several post-conflict states. Such experiences and witnessing first- hand the lack of access to services for persons with disabilities in humanitarian response and crisis became the driving force behind Ainsley furthering her education in political science and law. 

Ainsley’s Master of Laws ( LLM – International Law & Politics) dissertation titled: ‘An Ethical Quandary in the Pursuit of Justice: The New Zealand Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment and Treatment) Act 1992 and the Right to Liberty under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Explores fundamental human rights issues that currently intersect between legal and clinical practice.  It was from these findings, that Ainsley decided to undertake a PhD.

To date, Ainsley has been the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships for her work on disability human rights. Ainsley currently holds a DARE Marie Curie PhD Research Fellowship co-ordinated  by the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the University of Galway. The Centre for Disability Law and Policy was established in 2008 and is part of the School of Law, and the Institute for Lifecourse and Society at the University of Galway. It is dedicated to producing research that informs debate on national and international disability law reform. More information can be viewed at https://www.universityofgalway.ie/centre-disability-law-policy/

Ainsley’s current doctoral research focuses on  Disability, Old Age and the Life Course: Voices of Experience. The key objectives of this research project aim to explore: 

• the continuities and discontinuities in policy and legal discourses around disability and old age and especially the absence of authentic voices in the relevant debates.
• To explore differences between the voices and their relative absence in policy debates.
• Building on theories of intersectionality, to come forward with recommendations for more coherent law and policy with respect to disability and older people.