Mr. Eddie Redmond:

That is not a problem. Public transport in Ireland relies to a great extent on sound and there is not a lot of visual information that can be conveyed.

There is too much reliance on auditory information provision in public transport in Ireland. While people with disabilities might understand auditory emergency announcements, they would bypass deaf people and people who are hard of hearing. There is insufficient service provision in an accessible way on bus, train and airport services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Much of the consultation down through the years on disability services provision has been focused on disabilities other than accommodating deaf and hard of hearing people. It is astounding that in the 21st century there is still a lack of visually accessible information for deaf and hard of hearing people.

Barriers to access to public services can be very frustrating for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. It would be expected that at this stage, when people are putting in place plans for people with disabilities, they would take into account deaf people. While the Leap card is a great novel invention which allows a person to tag on and off, because the person also needs to tell the driver where he or she is going, deaf people are often misunderstood by a driver and then overcharged for their journey because the amount charged is based on the destination communicated to the driver. Also, while ticket machines are welcome, deaf people, including those who have free travel passes, still have to obtain tickets from people in kiosks who do not use a language that is accessible to those deaf people. There are electronic machines from which people can buy tickets without interaction but deaf people are forced to go to kiosks to obtain tickets. In one case, a deaf man took a train from Limerick to Dublin and because he fell asleep and did not hear the arrival announcement, when he woke up the train was on the way back to Limerick. Also, tannoys are used to make announcements regarding platform changes for rail services. There is no visual information provision in this regard, and often when gate changes are announced at airports, the information is not available on the screen straight away. Another deaf person who was travelling from Killarney to Dublin by train did not hear an auditory announcement regarding a changeover to a bus for the remainder of the journey, and because he was last off the train, the bus was full and he had to wait an hour for the next bus.

While deaf and hard of hearing people often receive assistance from hearing people, there are other people who are not patient in their interaction with deaf people. As a deaf person I might be asked to try to lip read in an effort to understand what people are saying, but nobody would ever ask a person who is a wheelchair user to try to walk. It can be very offensive for deaf people when they are asked to do this because they are not being respected for who they are.

In terms of solutions, one idea in regard to the Leap card would be the installation of a machine which allows deaf people to indicate their destination by pressing a button and selecting it. In terms of emergency announcements, there need to be live scrolling displays. I acknowledge that there is some visual information, provision but for deaf and hard of hearing people, emergency announcements need to be made auditorily and visually straight away. The Irish Deaf Society provides deaf awareness training to businesses, hospitals and health service providers. We believe that all public transport staff should receive some form of deaf awareness training. It can be good fun but it is also good for them to learn how to interact with deaf people. It can change attitudes. Some people have a less than graceful attitude when it comes to dealing with deaf and hard of hearing people. There are also basic sign language classes available at which people can learn a few signs related to the area in which they work, for example, the sign for train and ticket and so on. This is not about people becoming fluent in how to communicate with deaf people and Irish Sign Language, rather it is about having a basic familiarity with the language that can help.

It can be difficult for deaf people to engage with the hearing world, particularly in terms of transport. Services that are accessible to hearing people and taken for granted are not necessarily accessible to deaf people. For example, we may not be able to access the theatre or the cinema in the same way as hearing people can. Services that require use of a phone are a barrier. For example, we have only one interpreter here today because it was not possible to get another one. This limits our experiences and our access to events, meetings and so on. These frustrations arise because of barriers, inequality and discrimination that we experience. There are useful ways to improve attitudes and change these things.