Dr Barbara Stokes MB BCh BAO (20 December 1922 – 22 March 2009) was an Irish paediatrician and disability campaigner.
When Stoke's father retired from the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the family returned to Dublin in the summer of 1939 and lived at Grianán, Baily, Howth.
[1] Stokes graduated MB BCh BAO in 1945, training as a house physician at the Meath Hospital, Dublin.
[1] On 10 September 1946, Stokes married Dr Roderick O'Hanlon at University Church, St Stephen's Green, Dublin.
[1][2] Stokes trained under Dr Robert Collis at the National Children's Hospital, Harcourt Street.
During the later 1950s, she was a senior demonstrator in pharmacy and in physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland while also developing a private paediatric practice which specialised in neo-natal work.
An administrator was brought on to manage the non-medical work in the mid 1960s, allowing Stokes to focus on the medical services and provisions.
[1] Stokes was a frequent public speaker, and contributed to the 1972 Report of the study group on children's hospital services bringing attention to the needs of the parents and families of those with disabilities.
She was a consultant editor on the documentary A long way to go (1978) which investigated the social, emotional and medical issues young people with disabilities faced while attempting to integrate into their communities.
She suffered from multiple sclerosis for 35 years, and died on 22 March 2009[1] while living in Leeson Street Nursing Home.