Mr. Brian Crean:

Members may not be aware of Gallaudet University. It is the only liberal arts university in the world for deaf people. I have been there also and when I went for the first time I had no concept that sign languages were different. I had always assumed they were exactly the same everywhere. When I visited Gallaudet University it took me a little time to pick up the language, perhaps a week, and start to get a grip in terms of my receptive and understanding skills. My expressive skills took two or three years to develop.

In terms of how early children should sign, I agree with the idea that they should sign from the moment they are born.

To go off topic slightly, in terms of society in general, we got to where we are now because the attitude was that if a child who is deaf signs, he or she will not learn to speak. The focus was on removing sign language from the equation to get deaf children to learn to speak. However, sign language is the only fully accessible language for deaf children. Once they are exposed to sign language, they can acquire that regardless of what goes on separate from that. I have two hearing children and their first language was Irish Sign Language. When public health nurses visited us, they said our children would probably not learn to speak properly because we were signing with them. I remember telling them that in the case of parents who were Irish speakers, which is also a completely different language, public health nurses visiting Gaelgeoirí would never tell them that their children might never learn to speak English properly. They do not do that. Having access to Irish Sign Language does not lead to the development of any intellectual impediments. We ask, therefore, that the system take this into account and understand the richness of Irish Sign Language.

People may or may not develop the ability to speak but that is a completely separate issue and one on which the use of Irish Sign Language does not have any impact.