| Ireland Irish Deaf Society Established: 13 January 1981 Address: 30 Blessington Street, Dublin 7, Ireland Contact details: Email: info@irishdeafsociety.ie Tel: (+353) 1 8601 978 Fax: (+353) 1 8601 960 Website link: http://www.deaf.ie
Mission statement of the organisation The Irish Deaf Society as the leading national organisation of the Deaf in Ireland brings equality and human rights to members of the Deaf community through advocacy and empowerment as full citizens. It shall be achieved through promotion of Irish Sign Language and its related culture and norms. Details of the Board Chairperson: Carmel Grehan Board members: Geraldine Fitzgerald (Vice-Chairperson) - Jimmy Geraghty (Acting Honorary Treasurer) - Brid Garrahy - Linda McLoughlin - Kevin Mulqueen - Cathy McCormack - Patrick Whelan - Graham O'Shea Details of the Staff Chief Executive Officer: Kevin Stanley (D) Other staff: Eddie Redmond (D) Office/Human Resources Manager - Louise Sheerin (H) Personal Assistant to CEO - Donal Desmond (D) Account Clerk - Elaine Grehan (D) Advocacy Services Co-ordinator - Brian Crean (D) Deaf Adult Literacy Services Manager - Robert Smith (H) IT Project Manager - Susan Whelan (D) ISL Academy Co-ordinator - Deirdre Dunne-Byrne (D) Curriculum Development Worker - Bernadette Costello (D) Advocacy Services Development Worker - Yvonne Carolan (D) Advocacy Services Administrator - Aoife Blake (H) FETAC Administrator - John Fennell (D) Community Development Worker - Dominic McGreal (D) Community Development Worker - Martha Stone (H) Receptionist - Janette Byrne (H) Receptionist
Statistics General Population of your country? (Including hearing people) 5,000,00 Official or approximate figures of the number of Deaf people living in your country? 30,000, including Hard of Hearing Official or approximate numbers of Deaf people who use sign language as their primary language? 5,000 How many people are members of the NAD? 2,500 Does your National Association of the Deaf publish any magazine or newsletters for your members? Yes, we publish a bi-monthly magazine called Irish Deaf News Does your National Association of the Deaf have Youth section? Not directly but we have an Irish Deaf Youth Association affiliated to the IDS and they are currently using IDS office for administration and operation http://www.irishdeafyouth.com/
Status of Sign Language Is Sign Language legally recognised as part of your Government's constitution? No Is there any campaign to get the sign language legally recognised? Yes, we have established an ISL Recognition Campaign Committee with core remit of policy development, political lobbying and media work
Status of Sign Language Interpreters Approximate number of qualified sign language interpreters: 35 Details of training centre/courses: Trinity College Dublin, Centre for Deaf Studies
Technology Does your country provide Video Interpreting Service? No If not, when will it be implemented? No definite time frame but we have already commenced the research/testing with Government funding to assist us to purchase videophone. We are currently negotiating with the Government to develop the pilot stages of video interpreting service with the assistance of UK Significant.
Deaf centre/clubs How many deaf centres/clubs? 28 Details of the deaf centre/clubs: Arts & Cultural Society of the Deaf Drogheda Deaf Social Irish Deaf Sports Association Meath Deaf Association Wexford Deaf Association Universities/Sign Language Units Are there aany Universities that deals with Sign Language? (Deaf Studies, Linguistics, Interpreting) Trinity College Dublin, Centre for Deaf Studies
Deaf Schools Number of Deaf Schools: 3
Education method (Sign Language, Oral or other methods): Government policy - Oralism (in existence since 1972). However, policy is being reviewed and ISL and bi-lingual is being proposed, subject to Government approval. Currently, despite 1972 Oralism policy, ISL is being practised in most classrooms, especially in the last 10 years. However, there is a serious decline in number of Deaf attending schools with approximately 90% of young Deaf children either attending mainstream schools or special units. However, there is a trend of primary mainstreamed Deaf children attending post-primary (secondary) Deaf schools in recent years.
History of the NAD The IDS is a strong social networking organisation, which was set up by a group of Deaf people in 1981 during the United Nations International Year of the Disabled. The founders formed Deaf Action Group to encounter discrimination and oppression of IDS that prevailed the Deaf Community for decades previously. Those were the days when Irish Sign Language was discouraged at Deaf schools, non-deaf groups controlled the policies on Deaf issues and the Deaf endured with series of sub-standard services, which was violating their basic human rights. The DAG established a number of incentives to highlight the needs of the Deaf as follows:
Few could even predicate its survival even beyond the initial year of 1981. The demands of the Deaf Community ensured its continuation throughout the following year with the name changed to Irish Council of the Deaf in 1982 before settling with its current name at its inaugural Annual General Meeting in 1983. The IDS eventually became first Irish Deaf organisation to become the member of the World Federation of the Deaf in 1985, where we easily fit into their criteria, where membership organisations must be led by the Deaf. In the same year, the IDS were one of the founding members of the European Community Regional Secretariat of the Deaf, now the European Union of the Deaf. In 1986 the IDS organised Ireland's first ever seminar that was dedicated to the cultural and linguistic rights of the Deaf by revealing the needs of Deaf children to be educated in Irish Sign Language as opposed to its policy of oralism. It was quite a controversial and eye-opener for many people, where for first time the Deaf become confident in expressing their views on Deaf's needs and rights. The IDS organised its first of five national congresses in 1988 to celebrate the empowerment and equality of the Deaf. The IDS became the agent of social changes of Irish Deaf Community and was the prime mover on sign language interpreters and eventually modernised the services by reducing the ad-hoc interpreters, who comprised of clergies, parents or social workers and introduced its professionalism through training in partnership with Bristol University and Trinity College Dublin. It eventually led to the establishment of the Centre for Deaf Studies in 2000 and agency in 1998. The IDS brought in a number of new Deaf-led organisations such as Irish Deaf Youth Association, Irish Deaf Women's Group, Arts and Cultural Society of the Deaf and Greenbow Deaf Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Society of Ireland. With these, the growth of locally-based Deaf organisations lead the IDS to establish the National Council in 1995 that remained to date with 26 strong members. In the same year, the IDS embarked a major management transformation that brought the new vision of campaigning with a series of achievements such as Education Act 1998 (ISL for Deaf children), Broadcasting Act 2001 (Television access for Deaf), Model School for the Deaf Project, Signlink (interpreters agency), Centre for Deaf Studies and Linkup (Adult literacy). The IDS moved forward with a bolder vision in 2003 by appointing its first full-time paid Programme Development Manager, which saw the IDS modernising its structure and enhanced its services professionalism with ISL Academy, Advocacy, Adult Literacy, Multi-Media, Information Base and Technology. The IDS old reliance on ad-hoc volunteerism and FAS Community Employment Scheme abated with a strong fund-raising drive and some Government supports. In its year of 25th anniversary celebration, the Deaf Community enjoyed its own social changes with greater empowerment and independence. Despite lots things were done, much more is needed, which is why the IDS decide to devise its Strategic Plan for 2008 - 2011 to achieve our objectives of vision for our sustainable Deaf Community beyond the period of strategic plan.
Last updated: 27 January 2010 |
