Mr. Brian Crean:

Putting Irish Sign Language onto the national curriculum could be a way of improving awareness and recognition so that hearing children have the choice of learning it as they would with any other language. They have the choice to learn French or German. They learn Irish. Why not learn Irish Sign Language? It would benefit the deaf community in Ireland but it would also mean that hearing people would have the proper opportunity to learn the language. Their learning the language would help us to change attitudes. Sometimes people see deaf people and their language as a negative thing but attitudes could really be changed so much if people were looking at the language and wanting to know more about it. It could allow them to develop a respect for deaf people as citizens going forward.