Sir, - I am a profoundly deaf student about to embark on my third-level education at Dublin City University. Being deaf, I communicate in my first language - Irish Sign Language. This means that I require a sign language interpreter to help me understand what my lecturers and fellow students are saying.
Both Student Affairs at DCU and myself have been trying to find an Irish sign language interpreter to help me participate in my studies. However, there is none to be found. There are only two qualified interpreters working in Dublin and only five in the entire country.
Why in 1999 do we not have an adequate supply of qualified interpreters? What is the Department of Education doing about this injustice? This leaves me in the position where it is futile for me to attend lectures, as they would be incomprehensible to me. I will have to depend on lecture notes provided by lecturers and fellow students. Tutorials are also inaccessible to me without the services of an. This is so wrong. I have every right to a third-level education like all my hearing colleagues.The University Act states that universities promote equal opportunities. Why are there no recognised training courses for Irish Sign Language interpreters in third-level institutions to address this issue? Other deaf students and I are implicitly being discriminated against due to the shortage of interpreters. Is it any wonder there are so few deaf students in third-level education? - Yours, etc.,Darren Dunne,
Rialto,
Dublin 3.