ISL recognition one step closer

Posted on: 04 November 2016

Senators in the Seanad recently voted unanimously in favour of the Recognition of Irish Sign Language (ISL) for the Deaf Community Bill 2016.

This ISL recognition campaign, led by Assistant Professor and co-director at the Centre for Deaf Studies Dr John Bosco Conama, aims to end social exclusion that members of the deaf community face. If ISL was officially recognised, it would improve access to public services, medical information and online services, according to Dr Conama.

Research by the Centre for Deaf Studies provided a strong evidence base for the bill, which was brought before the Seanad by Senator Mark Daly.

Studies done by the centre documented the extent of isolation that Irish deaf people have experienced, and highlighted the intersections between language policies, awareness issues, attitudes and practices. 

Following the Seanad debate, Dr John Conama commented: "For me, the recognition of ISL has hugely symbolic meaning and if we, the users, achieve this formal recognition, our existence will at least be acknowledged. This would provide a stable foundation on which service provisions can be provided and access to these provisions can be facilitated through the means of ISL.”

Professor Lorraine Leeson, co-director at the Centre for Deaf Studies, added: “Ireland is amongst the last states in Europe to legally recognise indigenous sign language. The absence of such protection leaves deaf sign language users vulnerable. Without sign language recognition, the burden of access too often falls on the individual deaf person. Deaf people are often expected to lip-read in what is their second language, English. Deaf people have been expected to bring relatives – including their young children – to interpret for them in hospitals, police stations, courts, schools and universities.”

“Because current equality legislation calls for ‘reasonable accommodations’ to be put in place for people with disabilities (though many deaf people do not consider themselves disabled), there are many instances arising where the economic cost of access mitigates against doing the right thing in providing interpreting to deaf community members who are sign language users.”

The bill, which will be debated in the Dail next week and brought forward to committee stage in January 2017, calls for the following:

• recognition of Irish Sign Language
• provision for regulation of the professions of interpreting and Irish Sign Language teaching
• a call for statutory funding of interpreting services to ensure parity of access and participation in civil society by deaf citizens,

Trinity is the only university in the country offering an undergraduate programme leading to professional qualifications in Irish Sign Language teaching, Irish Sign Language/English interpreting and in the academic discipline of Deaf Studies.