Autism campaigner, 12, is the youngest to sit Junior Cert maths exam – and gets 97%
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A 12-year-old schoolgirl has become the youngest person to pass a Junior Cert exam — and she got 97%.
Cara Darmody’s maths exam result has just been broadcast live on Friday’s .
The schoolgirl, who was aged 11 when she sat the exam, thought she had just been brought on to talk about her current campaign to raise funds and campaign for better autism services.
Just last week, for example, she addressed an Oireachtas committee on the subject, becoming the youngest ever to address TDs in the house.
In July, she also met Taoiseach Micheál Martin and asked him to help sort out the chronic supports shortages for autistic children.
There are, for example, around 18,000 children currently waiting for a first meeting with someone from the HSE to discuss their case.
Earlier she told Ryan Tubridy she would be happy to get 50%. Then when the result was read out by the principal of her school, Brid Quinlivan, she shouted: “Yes, Yes, Yes!”
When Ryan Tubridy asked her how she felt, she said: “I never thought in a million years that I would get 97%. I am so happy because I can now keep helping those 18,000 children.”
A damning report brought out by autism action group AsIAm in June last year found 80% of parents and guardians have had to wait a year or more to receive an autism diagnosis for their child.
As a fifth-class student in Ardfinnan NS, Co Tipperary, Cara studied over 400 extra hours so that she could sit the Junior Cycle maths exam in June.
She has two brothers with autism — Neil, aged 10, and John, aged five.
In sitting the Junior Cert maths exam, she raised €40,000 for her local school and Scoil Chormaic Special School.
Although she sat her exam separately, the result was caught up in the national delay in children getting their results.
Unlike Cara, however, the rest have to wait until November 23 for their results.
Her exam result is one of a string of firsts for the schoolgirl.
Earlier this week, she urged HSE officials to “just do your job” in an impassioned speech to the joint committee on autism.
She told TDs: “I’m sick of adults who just talk. Why can’t you all do something about this and stop the damage being done to children with disabilities?”