Deaf members of the public honoured across Cork city and county

CORK Deaf Club celebrated International Week of Deaf People 2023, and Irish Sign Language Awareness Week last week.

The week-long celebration saw deaf members of the public honoured across Cork and the rest of the country.

“The most important thing is for hearing people to be aware of what it is to have things accessible for deaf people,” Chairperson of the Cork Deaf Club Graham O’Shea said.

“We have our own identity, our own language and our own culture, which is also marked by oppression by being deprived of our own language many years ago where we weren’t allowed to sign.”

Graham and members of the Cork Deaf Club were invited to meet the Lord Mayor of Cork, Kieran McCarthy, in his chambers earlier this month.

“For years, we always do meet the different Mayors because we want to celebrate our culture openly and to be honoured by the city and the Mayor and to give them an opportunity to learn about us.

“He is a lovely man and he said he never met a deaf person before and he learned a lot from us.

“It was a lovely occasion,” Graham added.

The Imperial Hotel hosted a ‘café and chats’ gathering last Friday morning ahead of Culture Night.

Blackrock Castle and Observatory was lit-up in blue to symbolise deaf awareness.

Saturday, September 23, also saw the Quad at UCC turn blue.

“The deaf community are so proud of their culture, identity and their language that the event was emotional.

“It makes us feel so proud to see us celebrated in such a way,” Graham concluded.