Disabilities campaigner never expected to become MBE

Michaela Hollywood, from Co Down, turned her disability into her calling to help others.

Michaela Hollywood from Crossgar in Northern Ireland who has been awarded the MBE for services to People with Disabilities (Liam McBurney/PA)

A trailblazing disabilities campaigner has described the prospect of being honoured by the King as something she had never expected in her life.

Michaela Hollywood, 33, from Co Down, who lives with a genetic condition called spinal muscular atrophy which limits her mobility, will be made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to people with disabilities.

Her passion for improving the world for those with disabilities was lit when she was just five after experiencing access issues at a cinema.

In 2008 there were similar challenges accessing a music concert in Belfast and Ms Hollywood founded Trailblazers, which lobbies for disabled youth.

She has also taken part in scores of fundraising efforts, including completing a marathon in her wheelchair, and fronted numerous campaigns to give others a voice.

As well as the headlines, Ms Hollywood said there is a huge amount of work and lobbying that goes on behind the scenes to make things happen.

“There is the very high-profile work that I do that everyone sees and people know me for, but there is also a lot of quiet behind-the-doors work building relationships,” she said.

“I love the work I do. I think that even if I wasn’t a disabled person, I’d be doing something like this anyway. I love every minute, I get so much from it. There is nothing more special than being able to help others.”

She said while politics in Northern Ireland remains divided, working for those with disabilities brings the politicians together and she praised MLAs across the board for their work, even in the absence of a functioning assembly at Stormont.

“There is not a day goes past when I’m not in touch with an MLA, not always with an ask, but everyday engagement and I regard many of them as friends,” she said.

“They are the best bunch of politicians, aside from green and orange, that you will ever meet. I can’t fault our politicians in any way and their eagerness to listen, to be involved and to help.”

Ms Hollywood said just weeks before the resignation of former deputy first minister Martin McGuiness in 2017, he spent two hours talking to her, adding she carries some of his advice with her to this day.

“It’s one of those things that people don’t hear about, I said to him, ‘please, please, keep this place running’, he responded, ‘everything doesn’t happen in this building, it happens where you are, so don’t lose that’,” she said.

“That has stayed with me. Stormont is a big part of what we do but actually the real life happens in the trenches on the ground and there is other work going on.”

Ms Hollywood said access has come a long way but there is still more to do.

“There have been changes and the world does feel more open and accepting,” she said.

“Things are getting to the point where I actually feel welcome in society and many other disabled people are also feeling that way, but I also think there is a lot of work to do.”

I know this honour is directed at me as an individual, but it would be remiss of me not to say this is also for all of the people I work with

Ms Hollywood said she was told there were so many things she could not do when she was younger, like going to university and driving – both which she has done – and receiving an honour from the King had not entered her mind.

“I can’t open my own letters, so I have someone who comes in and does it, it was first thing in the morning, I hadn’t got my eyes properly opened yet, and I was told, ‘you’re getting an MBE’, I said ‘yeah right’ because I didn’t believe it,” she said.

“I know this honour is directed at me as an individual, but it would be remiss of me not to say this is also for all of the people I work with. This isn’t just me, there is a big machine behind me and we all work together – it’s a large community effort – to try and make the world a better place.

“It will be a very special day for my family.”