Dáil debates

Thursday, 10 November 2016

Irish Sign Language Report: Motion

 

6:35 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to take part in the debate and welcome everyone in the Visitors Gallery, including the interpreters. I pay tribute to the Oireachtas committee and its Chairman. I also pay tribute to Senator Mark Daly and the other Senators who persisted in pursuing this matter. It is nearly three years since the Seanad defeated by three votes the last attempt to do something about the recognition of Irish Sign Language. Those who defeated the Bill were not listening, despite having full hearing at the time. They did not read any of the reports available.

I also pay tribute to Dr. John Bosco Conama for his working paper on the recognition of Irish Sign Language, which he revised in 2012.

The unique linguistic and cultural identity of deaf people has already been recognised in 41 countries, including Northern Ireland, by the recognition of each country's individual sign language. In this country, the Education Act refers to Irish Sign Language, but only as a tool in education and not as a right in itself. I have learned, as a result of the work of organisations like DeafHear in Galway and others, that Irish Sign Language is a language of itself. As Deputy Ó Caoláin pointed out, it is a language of movement, space, of the hands and the eyes. Most significantly, however, Irish Sign Language is a language of abstract communication. This is something that those of us with hearing forget. It is not a watered down version of English or Irish. Irish Sign Language is not a pictorial version of the world of spoken language. It is not an artificial form of communication devised by hearing people nor, indeed, is it an incomplete or broken form of English of the hands. It is a language of abstract communication.

The deaf community comprises people who consider deafness to be a difference in human experience rather than a disability. While the Minister of State has been very positive in some respects, I will come back to some of his weasel words in the midst of his introduction. The deaf community is telling us that deafness is a different experience and not a disability and therein lies a clue. We, the Government and society are disabling those with hearing impairment by not providing, as a human right and through legislation, services to which they are entitled so that they can communicate with each other and with us. Indeed, for many deaf people Irish Sign Language is the only language they can acquire spontaneously and naturally without teaching.

I believe that the Minister of State is very positive and wants to do something but I am concerned by the fact that he has listed out, in what should be a celebratory speech, obstacle after obstacle. I find that worrying.

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