Ms Wendy Murray:

My parents are over the age of 70 years and they have experienced a great degree of oppression. They would not have had the opportunity to have felt like full citizens. They would not have had the experience of privileged access to information that hearing people would have, like the members of the committee. It often makes me think there are barriers in society in terms of very minor things we would find out that we do not have access to and we feel it is really important that recognition of Irish Sign Language, as a language, is a way for the system to change for the better, to offer another route where there is not that cycle of exclusion, marginalisation and oppression. It is almost like there is a wall surrounding us because our language is not recognised but if that wall were to be removed, we would be able to communicate, understand and have people understand us more easily.

Before we came to this committee meeting, we looked at a video clip of Bressie when he made a presentation on mental health to the Joint Committee on Health and Children to get an idea of what it is like to appear before a committee as a witness. We only had access to that because were using the interpreter this morning. It was not accessible to us immediately. I know it has been mentioned already but in terms of accessing health services, there is an expectation that a deaf person would be accompanied by a family member. The professionals would not think of providing a professional sign language interpreter in many cases. If one is bringing in somebody who is not a professional interpreter, does he or she necessarily understand what is being said in terms of the terminology that is being used or will he or she try to shelter the deaf person because they think it is for the best? The non-professional interpreter would often leave out vital information that the deaf person should know because he or she thinks it is best for them.

We are looking at society as being the cause of many barriers. What I worry about is the state of services for me as an older deaf person and how it will impact on my mental health. We are asking whether the system can be broken down, so that it is not stay the same. I would hate to think that in 50 years' time, the situation will be the same and that by the time I am buried, nothing will have improved.