The Irish Deaf Society will host Irish Sign Language (ISL) Awareness Week which takes place from Monday 19th to Sunday 25 th September.
The week aims to promote awareness of ISL and the Deaf community in Ireland and joins a global celebration of Deaf communities and sign languages worldwide.
The week also seeks to highlight the ways in which systemic suppression and denial of ISL in educational, legal and social contexts can have a profound effect on the lives of Deaf individuals and the community.
ISL is Ireland’s native sign language used by up to 40,000 people and possesses its own structure and syntax distinct from spoken and written English. ISL is at the core identity of the Irish Deaf community and embodies the political, social and cultural elements of this minority group.
Finian McGrath TD, Minister of State at the Departments of Social Protection, Justice and Equality and Health with special responsibility for Disability Issues will officially launch the ISL Awareness Week at Buswells Hotel on Monday 19 th September at 2.30pm.
The weeklong event will play host to Deaf community events across the country, ISL classes and information points, social gatherings, a conference, a public demonstration in Dublin city and an ISL Flash Mob in Cork.
The World Federation of the Deaf is coordinating the simultaneous global campaign for this International Week of the Deaf under the theme ‘With Sign Language, I am Equal’ which acknowledges the 10 th Year Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Ireland has signed the UNCRPD but remains the very last EU member state to have not yet ratified it.
Along with the UNCRPD, official recognition of ISL remains a high priority for the IDS, as its current status allows for a lack of legal protection for Deaf people against disadvantage and marginalisation.
As IDS CEO Eddie Redmond puts it, “Until ISL is recognised by the state, Deaf people remain second class citizens with many public services being completely inaccessible for ISL users.” He emphasised; “There isn’t a legal obligation to provide many essential services and information in ISL, which can often be a Deaf person’s only accessible language, so they fall through the cracks”.
A Bill for the Recognition of ISL was re-introduced to the Seanad by Senator Mark Daly in July and is expected to reach the Second Stage after the summer recess in time for ISL Awareness Week.
For more information on Irish Sign Language Awareness Week please see www.deaf.ie for more details or contact info@irishdeafsociety.ie #ISL4all
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