Kiltimagh boy to feature in RTÉ documentary on deaf education
Eoghan Freeman (8) and his family set to feature on 'Deaf Not Dumb', which explores the challenges of deaf education in Ireland
AN eight-year-old boy from Kiltimagh is to feature in a documentary exploring the challenges of deaf education in Ireland will air on RTÉ One this evening (Thursday).
Through personal stories of deaf children and their parents, 'Deaf Not Dumb' highlights the historical issues that have prevented deaf people from reaching their full academic potential and explores the promising resurgence of deaf education methods that were in use at the foundation of the state.
Eoghan Freeman from Kiltimagh is among a number of individuals who will share their stories in the documentary.
His mother Orla explains that Eoghan was the first deaf person she ever met. Orla and her husband have fought for years to ensure that Eoghan can access the same education as his older hearing brothers.
He is growing up in an incredibly supportive community where the children in his class in St Aidan's NS have been learning sign language to communicate with him.
"We could see the frustration in him [Eoghan] when he couldn’t express himself. But now... it’s like that inner world of his is now coming out," Said Orla.
I’d say Eoghan was probably about six, and he turned around to me in the nighttime and said, Mum when did the doctors tell you that I was deaf? … I said I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t know everything that I needed to know. I just think, if I didn’t have sign language, how would I have ever known that he worried about me being sad when he was born, and I always wanted his history to be a positive one, because this wasn’t an awful sad situation. He wasn’t a sick baby, he was just a deaf baby.”
In 2017, Irish Sign Language (ISL) gained legal recognition as a native language of the State. Despite this, many deaf children do not receive the ISL support they need to succeed at school and parents still must fight to ensure that their deaf children have equal access to education using Irish Sign Language.
'Deaf not Dumb' will air RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Thursday November 23 at 10.15pm.