Paddy Slattery is an Irish filmmaker and director who has just been named by IFTA (Irish version of the Oscars) as one of Ireland's top emerging talents. But growing up, it was never his plan to pursue a career in cinema. He comes from a village in the countryside west of Dublin and in 1996 when he was just 17 years of age, Paddy was the passenger of a car that was involved in a serious accident, flying off a country road and flipping a number of times. The driver and other passengers walked away with little injuries, but as Paddy was not wearing a seatbelt he was left paralyzed from the chest down. "I don't care what they say, I will walk again.", were the words he told doctors as he sat in a new wheelchair. 25 years later, Paddy says he can now fly.
Colm Flynn talks to Paddy Slattery about his incredible story, who says that when his "body switched off, my mind switched on."