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I'd like to ask you a question.

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Irish Sign language interpreters are here.

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Who are they here for?

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For me?

5
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Well yeah, they are here for me.

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But most of all,
they are here for all of you

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so you can fit in with my language.

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The ISL interpreters,

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what are they doing?

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I sign,

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and then they voice-over
and translate into English for you.

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Let me tell you a story.

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I was born Deaf.

14
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The doctors identified me as Deaf
at six months old.

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My Mom and Dad,

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did they get the support they needed?

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No, they didn't.

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Did they get the information there was

19
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about the Deaf community
and their language

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and their culture
and their potential opportunities

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I had for me in the future?

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No, they didn't.

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My life was doomed as a negative
from that moment forward.

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I initially went to a hearing play school

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with other children.

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I can remember once sitting in the circle

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with two teachers sitting out front.

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All the children were involved
in an activity of singing a rhyme.

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The children sang away.

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What was I doing?

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Nothing.

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I just sat there doing nothing.

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I was lost.

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The children continued singing,

35
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then they stood up,

36
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which was part of the actions
of the nursery rhyme,

37
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and they dropped to the floor.

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What was I doing?

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Still sitting there doing nothing.

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Just sitting,

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lost,

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isolated,

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left out.

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I gestured to a little boy
who was on the ground,

45
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"Come. Sit with me."

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He did that. He came and sat beside me.

47
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That just went to show

48
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just how I was feeling alone
sitting by myself,

49
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and having him there sit with me
made me feel a bit more the same.

50
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Later, I went to the local state school
for hearing children.

51
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I was there for about a year.

52
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It really didn't work out.

53
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My parents had to make
the agonising, difficult decision

54
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to send me to Dublin,
to a boarding school for Deaf children.

55
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I can remember the first day
going in there.

56
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I entered a classroom.

57
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There was a group of girls
sitting in a circle.

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Those girls are still my friends today
after all these years.

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One of them

60
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remembers clearly waving at me

61
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and gesturing towards me
to come join them.

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They were doing colouring.

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I went over.

64
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They made space for me,
pushed two other little pals away.

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I sat in.

66
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And my friend gestured and signed to me
what they were doing.

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So they were colouring.

68
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And from that moment on,

69
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I don't remember ever
actually learning Irish Sign Language.

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I don't remember how I learned.

71
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I don't know how I picked it up,

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how I was influenced.

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I don't remember
the actual pragmatics of that,

74
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but I know it was my language,

75
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and I know the first five years
and nine months of my life,

76
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I was deprived of that language.

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Irish Sign Language,

78
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what is it?

79
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It's a language.

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It's the same like
your language that you use,

81
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It's similar to spoken languages -

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French, Spanish, German, English,
all the languages that there are.

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And each country
has its own sign language.

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Irish Sign Language has
its own structure, grammar, syntax

85
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just like spoken languages do.

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Irish Sign Language

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is their first or preferred language
of the Deaf community.

88
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ISL is 80% based on body language
and visual expression.

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It's a visual language.

90
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I'm not sure if you know

91
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that ISL is already
a recognised language of this country,

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the third language of this country,
since December 2017.

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Irish Sign Language is for everyone.

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It's the key to inclusion.

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I want you to imagine this here.

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Imagine if here in Ireland,

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everywhere you went, any part of life,

98
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everyone could sign.

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Imagine going into the street
and bumping into people and signing;

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going into the bank, being able to sign;

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going into shops, being able to sign;

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hearing and Deaf, people all alike
being able to sign.

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Can you imagine?

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Can you imagine the world
if it was like that -

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in all the other countries
where there are sign languages,

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we use sign language everywhere -

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if everybody could communicate
through sign language?

108
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Imagine that.

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Let me tell you another story.

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This just happened to me
about three weeks ago.

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I was at a tram stop, waiting.

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I noticed a woman coming towards me,

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and I could see by her body language
that she was a bit confused.

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She approached me and spoke to me,

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and I tried to communicate with her,

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but as you know,

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Deaf people can work extremely hard
at trying to lip read,

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but 90% of that skill is guesswork.

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So I tried to lip read
what she was saying to me,

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and she said something like this:

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"Is this something,
something or other stop?

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So, clearly she was asking me
if she was at the right stop.

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So i took out my phone.

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I thought, "Okay, I'm going to try
and help this lady."

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So I typed out on my phone a message:

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"How can I help you?"

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and I gave her my phone.

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She typed.

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I got excited.

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I thought, "Great! She's going
to finally communicate with me."

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So she gave me back my phone,

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but she walked away
to speak to someone else,

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and when I looked at my phone -

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do you know what she said?

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"It's okay."

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It's not okay,

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No.

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I felt so humiliated, degraded.

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I felt like a second-class citizen
to be treated like that.

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The only time I can remember
being treated equal

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happened when I went
to Maynooth University.

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I was there studying
for a degree for three years.

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Interpreters were provided throughout.

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I was fully included with my class,
with the students and lecturers.

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They recognised me. They saw me.

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I also went on three
professional work placements,

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and all the colleagues
who met me valued me.

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One particular placement,
I went as youth worker on a project.

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I had interpreters provided to me
for the duration.

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And during that placement,

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It meant that I had to act
as a professional

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and carry out my role,

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and I could do that through ISL
because I had interpreters with me,

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and I was able to link and build
relationships with people through ISL.

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So when I was asked

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to participate in the programme
"London's Calling" last may,

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it really opened my eyes

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because in the UK, especially in London,

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they have the Access to Work scheme,
that is funded by the Government,

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where they provide funds

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so that Deaf people there can carry out
their professions and their jobs,

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can look for job progression, promotion.

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They are Deaf professionals.

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It's not fair that here, Irish Deaf people

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end up forced to move to the UK
to achieve their dreams

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because of that Access to Work scheme

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when they could actually do that here
if we had the Access to Work scheme here -

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a proper one.

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Can you imagine

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Ireland,

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if we had the Access to Work scheme here,

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it would mean we would be visible,

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we would be your colleagues
through Irish Sign Language?

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Just like can you imagine
a world, in every country,

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and if they copied that model
for the Access to Work scheme,

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it would mean that
so many Deaf professionals

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would be seen everywhere

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and able to progress in their work life?

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And that would mean what?

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That young Deaf people

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who already have the motivation
and the dreams of things they'd like to do

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ahead in the future,

183
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that would be there for them,
they could achieve that,

184
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just like I couldn't.

185
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Inclusion -

186
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that's everyone's responsibility.

187
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Inclusion

188
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is everyone's responsibility.

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Now I'd like to invite you
to learn about the Deaf community.

190
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I have a long list of tips
of what you can do,

191
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but I've just picked three.

192
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One of them is linked
to how to communicate with a Deaf person.

193
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There's many different ways.

194
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You could write something down
on a piece of paper,

195
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write back and forth.

196
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You could use your phone,
just like I did at the tram stop,

197
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and type something out on your phone.

198
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The technology is there. It's amazing.

199
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Use it.

200
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You could try and speak
with a Deaf person,

201
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but please speak normal and clearly.

202
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Just use normal mouth patterns.

203
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The Deaf community,

204
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one of their pet peeves,
and my particular one,

205
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is when hearing people talk like this:

206
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"Hello ...

207
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How ... are ... you ...?"

208
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Really?

209
00:11:49,353 --> 00:11:53,010
Like, just talk normal and clearly.

210
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That's all we want.

211
00:11:55,995 --> 00:11:57,776
Also you could try and make sure,

212
00:11:57,776 --> 00:11:59,778
as you'ar progressing in the conversation,

213
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that you are being understood.

214
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Have that flexibility,

215
00:12:03,151 --> 00:12:04,971
and problem is solved.

216
00:12:05,581 --> 00:12:07,484
The second thing is:

217
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Why don't you go and learn
Irish Sign Language?

218
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There's classes.

219
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And if you learn and become fluent,

220
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well hey, you've got a second or third
or maybe even fourth language.

221
00:12:22,756 --> 00:12:24,620
That would be cool, right?

222
00:12:24,620 --> 00:12:26,243
Then you'll be able to talk to me.

223
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You could be my friend.

224
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You could be their friend.

225
00:12:31,365 --> 00:12:32,729
Thirdly,

226
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the way you describe Deaf people,

227
00:12:36,137 --> 00:12:38,767
what's the right terminology to use?

228
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The most acceptable terms

229
00:12:41,483 --> 00:12:44,565
are "Deaf" or "Hard of Hearing."

230
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Don't say "hearing-Impaired"

231
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or "a hearing difficulty"

232
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or "hearing disability"

233
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or "deaf and dumb."

234
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They are not acceptable.

235
00:12:56,506 --> 00:12:59,425
It's "Deaf" or "Hard of Hearing."

236
00:13:04,505 --> 00:13:06,825
I'm going to remind you again.

237
00:13:07,975 --> 00:13:12,220
Inclusion is everyone's responsibility.

238
00:13:16,389 --> 00:13:18,587
I am Joanne Chester,

239
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and I am not just Deaf.

240
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Thank you.

241
00:13:24,025 --> 00:13:27,019
(Applause)