SPIRIT OF SIGN 5TH ANNIVERSARY

Cork Deaf Drama, Spirit of Sign, will have its 5th anniversary celebrations on 19th November in Metropole Hotel, MacCurtain St, Cork from 1–6pm and 7pm–1am. There will be exhibitions in the afternoon and a social night with DJ. Tickets are 20 euro, with 10 euro non-refundable deposit. Please text Catherine Landers: 0876112287 or Anthony White: 0861266213 for tickets before 28th October.

WFD 2015 HOST

At the World Federation of the Deaf congress held in Durban, South Africa, earlier this month the decision of who will host for the next WFD congress in four years’ time was announced. There were three candidate cities: Berlin, Mexico City and Istanbul. In the finish the winner was Istanbul, Turkey. The theme of the congress has not been announced yet. For more information about Istanbul’s candidacy, have a look at the website: www.wfd2015istanbul.org

EUROPEAN DEAF FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 7th European Deaf Football Championship was held in Demark, and the Irish Deaf team participated, flying the flag again for their country. They lost their first game 0-1 on Tuesday June 28th against Russia. After that disappointment, they fought hard during their next game versus Belgium, to win 2-1. The next game saw them face the host team, Denmark, which they won by a close 3-2. However they were prematurely knocked out against our neighbours Great Britain, drawing 2-2 to full time, and losing 4-2 after added time. They seeded seventh in the final placing of the tournament, and hope to beat that during their next tournament.

MISS DEAF WORLD

Miss Deaf World was held in Prague from 1st-11th July. The winner was 20 year-old Ilaria Galbusera from Italy. Second place went to 17 year-old Russian Elena Korchagina, and third to 27 year-old Indonesian Dian Inggravati Soebangil.

LADY GAGA LEARNING SIGN LANGUAGE

After being inspired by numerous deaf fan-made video responses posted on Youtube, Lady Gaga has expressed an interest in learning American Sign Language, and has already booked an ASL tutor. She hopes to soon respond to the videos online, and to also include sign Language in her future live performances. For more on this story see www.h3.tv/videos/lady-gaga-learning-sign-language/.

DEAFHEAR “COMMUNICATION AND YOUR CHILD”

Deafhear has produced a new factsheet which outlines the importance of communication for a deaf or hard of hearing child’s development. It provides ideas and guidance for supporting the development of your child’s communication skills through everyday activities such as play, mealtimes and daily routines. The factsheet provides tips for ensuring the home environment is designed to help your child develop good communication skills. For more information, go to

http://www.deafhear.com/ParentsCorner/CommunicationandYourChild.pdf

DEAFHEAR “COMMUNICATION OPTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES”

Deafhear has also produced a factsheet which provides information on the “communication options and opportunities” available to deaf and hard of hearing children and their families. It should be read in conjunction with the factsheet “Communication and Your Child”. For more information, go to their Parent's Corner

http://www.deafhear.com/ParentsCorner/CommunicationOptions.pdf

RACE NIGHT FUNDRAISER.
A fundraiser 'Race Night' is being held Friday 26th August in the Corner
House Bar, Barraduff at 9pm.  The fundraiser will be called the "Jack O
Leary Race Night" and all proceeds are being donated to our service. Jack's
parents and family are organising this event. Please show your support by
attending on the night. Best wishes to everyone involved and a big thank you
to the O’Leary for all their hard work in arranging this event.

SHARING THE JOURNEY SUMMER PROJECT.
Sharing the Journey is delighted to offer a Summer Project with a difference
in Dublin! It is open to all children aged 5 – 15years and will give them
the opportunity to learn Irish Sign language (ISL) while enjoying activities
such as Performing Arts, Sports, Creative writing and Outings. Participants
will enjoy high quality introduction workshops in drama, dance, African
drums, tag rugby and Yoga while immersed in ISL and Deaf awareness.

The venue will be St. Vincent’s, Drumcondra, Dublin 9. Activities will run
from 10am – 3.30pm daily and will run over 2 weeks (Week 1- 8th to 12th of
Aug, Week 2- 15th to 19th of Aug)

The activities will be loosely divided by age. Group A (5 – 9yr) Group B
(9-12yr) Group C (12- 15yr). It costs 70euro per child per week, with
reduced rates for siblings and groups who book together. This covers cost of
classes and materials. All children who enroll before the 15th July 2011 can
avail of an early registration rate of 50euro per child per week.

For further information and enquiries contact Theresa on 0879163168 or email
sharingthejourney2011@gmail.

STREET COLLECTION KILLARNEY- VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED.
We have a street collection in Killarney on the 15th of July and require
volunteers. With restricted funding, this event is a very important source
of income for our service.

If you are available for a few hours, please let us know.

DEMOLITION OF ST. JOSEPH's SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
An historical yet sad event for many in the Deaf community took place last
week in Dublin. St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys in Cabra, a Victorian
four-storey building with Tudor character, which was constructed in 1856,
was demolished.

This is to make way for work on a €15 million project "The Deaf Village".
The building of the Deaf Village will be spread over three phases, with
Phase one being the most significant and costly. Phase one will entail the
provision of new sporting, administration, social, educational, heritage and
religious facilities. In Phase one there will also be some overnight
accommodation for visitors and parents to the Village.

Phases two and three will comprise the proposed amalgamation of the Cabra
schools and residences for Deaf Boys and Girls and the moving of St. Joseph’
s House Brewery road from Stillorgan to Cabra to become part of the Deaf
Village, together with new independent living facilities. Another aspect of
the Village is the establishment of a Centre for Deaf Education managed
jointly by Deafhear.ie, the IDS, CIDP, CDS Trinity College and the Deaf
schools.

REMINDER OF TRIP TO KENMARE
Just a quick reminder to all those involved in the upcoming "Cool Youth
Club" trip to Kenmare. The camp will run from the 17th to the 23rd of July.
This promises to be an exciting event with a five full day programme with
activities such as canoeing, sailing, games, team challenges, water
trampolines and cruising.

For those travelling from Kerry, please contact Veronica White to confirm
travel arrangements to and from the camp. For those travelling from Cork,
the camp Co-ordinator is Susan O'Callaghan.

We hope everyone involved has a great time. Our thanks to Susan and Cork
Deaf Association for including Deaf people from Kerry in the camp.

DEAFHEAR ONLINE SURVEY FOR PARENTS WITH DEAF CHILDREN
DeafHear´s has launched an online survey on the experiences of parents of
deaf and hard of hearing children in Ireland.

This comprehensive survey will provide important information on the issues
faced by parents of children with hearing loss. This information will assist
DeafHear in providing the services and supports required by parents and
children into the future, and also in lobbying and influencing other service
providers to respond to the needs and issues identified in the survey.

The survey will be open for a number of months, and initial results will be
published on their website on their new section "Parents Corner" in the
autumn.

To complete the questionnaire, go to
http://www.deafhear.com/

UPDATE OF ETHIOPIA DEAF PROJECT

There have been significant developments recently with plans to build a Deaf Centre in Ambo, Ethiopia. Fr. Stephen Monaghan of the Vincentian Lay Missionaries flew to Ethiopia recently and met with the local Deaf community again.

On his return, we learnt that all those involved with the land have agreed to compensation. Payment for the land has been completed and the land has now been fenced off. An application for Overseas Aid Development has been completed and submitted to the relevant funding authority. If things go according to plans and funding comes through, we hope to have the Centre built by August 2012.

In the meantime, VLM hosted a fundraising ball in Dublin with proceeds going to their development work abroad. The Irish Deaf group involved with the Ethiopian project including our own Veronica White attended the event and had a great time. A number of workshops have also been organised to spread awareness about the project.

We would like to thank Fr. Monaghan for all his hard work, to VLM and to all those who have fundraised on our behalf. Further updates will be available in due course.

WFD CONGRESS AFRICA 2011.

We would like to send our best wishes to all the Irish Deaf delegates who will be heading to Durban in South Africa over the next 2 weeks for the World Federation of the Deaf congress.

This event is held every four years and we've been lucky to attend many of these events in the past. The event aims to inspire its attendees to take forward the concept of a renaissance, a rebirth of Deaf communities worldwide. Good luck to everyone involved and safe travels.

For more information and updates, go to http://www.wfd2011.com/information/letter.html

ACCESS TO SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETING ONLINE

The Sign Language Interpreting Service (SLIS) is accepting applications for people who want to access sign language interpreters online in Ireland.

If you would want to access local service providers such as FAS, Social Welfare, County Councils etc, ask them to register with SLIS.

Thereafter, an appointment can be made to access an interpreter via a webcam by texting/calling SLIS on 087 980 6996 or e-mailing bookings@slis.ie

EFSLI CONFERENCE ITALY

The European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters 2011 conference is still open for registration. The event promises to be another highlight in EFSLI’s history. The conference will be held on the beautiful Amalfi Coast in Italy from the 16th-18th of Sept. The programme includes prominent international speakers and Italian themed social events.

For interpreters, translating from sign language to a written language and vice versa is a recent development, which involves both Deaf and hearing interpreters. This work includes working with subtitles, news or when parts of books are translated, or when a video text becomes a signed speech.

The conference will encourage participants to reflect on this development, to share experiences, knowledge and expertise of specific translating techniques working between written and sign language - “meeting of two languages and two modes”.

For more information, go to http://www.efsli2011.org/

OUR SYMPATHIES

We would like to extend our sympathies to Aileen Curtayne and her family on the recent death of her father James Coffey. James was a very popular person in the Killorglin area. Aileen works for Deafhear, Killarney and is well known in the Deaf community. 

IDS 30

ANNIVERSARY

We’d like to extend our best wishes and congratulations to the Irish Deaf Society who celebrated their 30th anniversary recently.
 

Their celebrations included a Gala Ball in Portlaoise and an event in the Mansion House with Eamonn Gilmore, Tánaiste.

IDS GUIDEBOOK LAUNCH

At the Mansion House, the Chairperson of the IDS, Kevin Mulqueen also launched a new guidebook for parents of deaf children. If would like a copy of this guidebook, email deaforward@irishdeafsociety.

IDYA EVENTS.

The Irish Deaf Youth Association will have a number events coming up over the next few months.

On July the 2nd at 6.30pm, they will host a 'Cake Sale'. The will be followed by their annual BBQ and Fun Day on the 9th of July at 2pm. Later in the year, on the 12th of November, the IDYA will celebrate their 25th anniversary. To celebrate this, they will be having a themed 'Hollywood Ball' in the Radisson Hotel in Athlone. "Dress to impress" is the motto for the event so come along dressed as a famous film star.

We'd like to wish the IDYA every success with their events and want to wish them a very happy 25th anniversary. For more information on the IDYA or on their upcoming events, go to http://irishdeafyouth.com/

IUK CAMP.

Are you between the age of 13 and 17? Would you like to meet with other Deaf from Ireland and the UK from the 6th-13th of August? 

The Ireland-United Kingdom (IUK) Camp will have 40 participants. Each of the 5 countries; Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales will have 8 participants along with two leaders. The camp is hosted by each country on a yearly basis and this year Ireland hosts the event.

The IDYA work in close partnership with the British Deaf Association (BDA) who represents the 4 countries of the UK.

The camp is funded mainly by the Causeway British-Irish Exchange Youth Programme. For more information or for an application form, go to

http://www.facebook.com/iukdeafcamp2011 or email carmel@irishdeafyouth.com

PAST PUPIL REUNION- CORK DEAF SCHOOLS.

There will be a reunion of past pupils from the Cork Deaf schools - South Presentation, Douglas and Bishopstown Community school. The event will be held in Tralee on 16th July. If there is sufficient interest, the group may head to Restaurant Uno for an early bird meal (3courses cost 16.95 euro).

If you are interested in attending, please contact the organisers before the 1st of July. The event is also open to friends/partners of past pupils.

For more information, go to their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185189651502525

WASLI FACEBOOK.

WASLI is the international association of sign language interpreters. They want to inform everyone that they recently changed the format of the Facebook profile.

To become a 'fan' of the page, go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Association-of-Sign-Language-Interpreters-WASLI/204734872899028 and click on 'like'.

On this page, WASLI will post regular updates, information about upcoming events in the interpreting world, and links to the WASLI newsletter. In addition, fans of the page can post updates and share their news with them. Posts should relate to sign language interpreting and the deaf communities with whom we work.

Video posts should be captioned or subtitled unless they are in sign language. However if you do not have the technology for adding captions or subtitles, include a transcript or synopsis as a comment after the posting.