Donegal deafness campaigner calls for greater sign language awareness

An advocate for deaf awareness told Donegal Live during the 2025 International Week for the Deaf that learning even a phrase of Irish Sign Language would make “a massive difference.”

From September 22-28, the theme of the International Week for the Deaf was ‘No Human Rights Without Sign Language Rights,’ and it is the improvement of the general knowledge of Irish Sign Language that Alison McFadden wants to promote.

Alison McFadden, of Kilmacrennan, whose 15-year-old daughter, Taylor Beth, was born profoundly deaf, runs an Instagram account called Sign To Hear, which highlights their family’s journey through deafness with cochlear implants.  

“In Donegal, it is a lot different than for people in other areas of the country,” said Alison.00 “There does not seem to be much of a push for things in the community for deaf people.

“I know Century Cinemas, at one stage, was showing different movies with subtitles but it is not all the time, whereas in Dublin, it would be much more common. It doesn’t seem to be high on the mark here for accessibility. 

“We have the page on Instagram that we started. It was to open up the path and promote deaf awareness and highlight the importance of sign language and accessibility to people who might not know the importance of it.”

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“For people who rely on sign language, to learn a piece of sign language could help people on a daily basis, even the smallest sign would open up pathways for communication. It would make a massive difference.”

Alison spoke about the impact of when her family first received news about Taylor Beth’s deafness, and how they reacted to it.

She said: “The very odd time, you would get a sign language class, but there doesn’t seem to be a constant flow of Irish Sign Language. 

“I know when we found that our daughter was deaf in 2011, it was on ourselves to teach ourselves sign language until she got her cochlear implants. At the time, there were sign language classes being run through the ETB that we were able to go and do weekly classes. 

“We had a foundation to be able to teach our daughter to sign. I had to leave my job because there was no option for us to leave her somewhere where that could not communicate with her in sign language, so she would have been left on her own. 

“It is a very important part of her life and will be, to have the fallback of sign language if anything happened with her devices, that would be her communication then.”

Alison concluded on how important deaf awareness, and the International Week of the Deaf was. She commented: “Accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people is coming to the forefront more and more, ensuring they can fully participate in the world around them.

“Deaf awareness week is a fantastic way to promote awareness of all Deaf culture and highlights the importance of Sign Language for inclusion purposes.

“By learning small pieces of sign language, it can help break barriers through communication.

“Our page has provided us with a great platform to celebrate Taylor Beth’s deafness and all the achievements that come with it.”