Ciara Dwyer

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Ciara Dwyer

Temple Grandin on autism today: ‘I think all the kids spending all this time on screens has made it worse’April is World Autism Awareness month, and Temple Grandin is its most famous activist.

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Ciara Dwyer

Brain training: Cognitive decline as we age is not inevitable – here’s what you need to do to stay sharpProfessor Ian Robertson is an expert on how to maintain optimal brain function as we age. He explains why novelty, learning and social enrichment are key to halting cognitive declineContinual stimulation keeps the brain healthy as we age. Picture: Getty"As you age, does your brain decline?” I ask Professor Ian Robertson. “Not necessarily,” he replies.

4 weeks ago | independent.ie | Ciara Dwyer

The musician on confronting the abuse in his childhood On a bright Wednesday morning, Keith Donald walks into Dublin’s Gresham Hotel clad in black. A tall man with a jaunty walk, he cuts an interesting figure in his cap and elegant black tweed trousers. You’d know he was in the arts. The 80-year-old saxophonist and clarinettist from Portstewart has been in many bands including Moving Hearts, The Greenbeats and the Real McCoy.

4 weeks ago | belfasttelegraph.co.uk | Ciara Dwyer

Saxophonist and clarinettist Keith Donald talks to Ciara Dwyer about his new memoir, recovery from alcoholism and confronting the abuse in his childhood Portstewart saxophonist and clarinettist Keith Donald never thought he would live to 40 never mind that he would still be gigging at 80.

1 month ago | independent.ie | Ciara Dwyer

I don’t feel sad or angry when I see photos of my parents during Covid, rather I marvel at how we got through that timeOld photos often flash up on my phone. “Would you like to see this day so many years ago?” Google asks, nudging me into nostalgia. I almost always say yes, but the ones from 2020 feel like another lifetime. Covid had just started. My parents, Rory and Mary Dwyer, were both long-term residents in St Mary’s Community Nursing Unit in the Phoenix Park. Now they are both dead.