Irish Deaf Society to highlight this for its Irish Sign Language Awareness Week
Deaf children in Ireland do not have full access to Irish Sign Language (ISL) today. Being deprived of full access to ISL for these children brings serious consequences. Linguists here and abroad have expressed concerns at the constant obliviousness of direct and indirect language acquisiton benefits for Deaf children. Their language acquistion through ISL builds a stable foundation for these Deaf children so they can function fully in several future contexts; educational, social, work and political.
ISL Awareness Week is in conjunction with the International Week of the Deaf which is chiefly coordinated by the World Federation of the Deaf. This year’s theme has been set and it is ‘With Sign Language Rights, Our Children Can”. This theme is truly fitting as 80% of Deaf children worldwide don’t receive proper education, while in other countries including Ireland, the constant obliviousness on the benefits of signed languages continues.
ISL Awareness Week will be launched by the Lord Mayor of Waterford on Saturday, 19th September in Waterford and the week is packed with several events all over Ireland. There is a wide range of events such as a cycling event in Waterford, a conference in Trinity College Dublin and an ISL rally outside Leinster House to highlight a lack of proper legislative status to politicans. Some other events are a coffee morning in several cafes around Ireland organised by Irish Deaf Women’s Group and the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Dublin Theatre of the Deaf which produces dramas in ISL.
It is a common and constant myth that one requires sufficient hearing to have access to languages. One medical research study in the US, supported by other findings, unravels this myth. Another factor is that ISL is being used as a compensatory tool rather than a language in its own right. Failing to realise this cultural uniqueness of ISL, which cements a strong sense of cultural belonging, leads to some ignorance of the benefits of parting ISL skills to these Deaf children.
Wendy Murray, the Chairperson of IDS states: “We are really excited to see how ISL Awareness Week goes this year because we are determined to organise it every year to highlight the importance of using ISL. We do that on meagre resources. Our determination shows our collective concerns for future generations of Deaf children as there is a chance in the future, so they can enjoy the same access to ISL which would enrich them socially, mentally and culturally, so much”.
We acknowledge there are efforts made to ensure these Deaf children have access to ISL, however, the access is piecemeal and not always available for these Deaf children. Irish Deaf Society’s principal aim is to get a proper legislative status for ISL so these Deaf children will benefit enormously.
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Contact: islnow@www.irishdeafsociety.ie Eddie Redmond: Eddie@www.irishdeafsociety.ie Irish Deaf Society: 01 860 1878 Website: www.deaf.ie Facebook: www.facebook.com/IrishDeafSociety