Mayo Mum believes TV show featuring son shows strides in deaf education

The mother of a Kiltimagh boy who featured on a documentary on deaf education in Ireland has said there has been a very positive reaction and she hopes it will give people more insight and understanding.

'Deaf Not Dumb' explored the challenges of deaf education in Ireland, was broadcast on RTÉ One on Thursday night.

The documentary, which also highlighted the historical issues that have prevented deaf people from reaching their full academic potential.

Eoghan and his family were among several individuals and families who shared their stories.

Today, parents still have to fight to ensure that their deaf children have equal access to education using Irish Sign Language (ISL).

Eoghan Freeman, who celebrated his ninth birthday last Saturday, is a bubbly bright deaf boy from Kiltimagh.

He was born deaf, and his mother Orla explained that he was the first deaf person she ever met.

Orla and her husband Shane have fought for years to ensure that Eoghan has access to the same education enjoyed by his older hearing brothers.

"The documentary was just fabulous and I phoned the producer to thank her as it felt so real, it really portrayed what life is like and what I mean by that is what you saw in the classroom at St Aidans and with all the other children on yard is exactly how it is," she said. "I have often thought, if only people could see Eoghan and how well he is included in school and in sport that it would just give encouragement maybe to other parents who are just starting off on the journey."

When Eoghan was six weeks old he got his official diagnosis that he was profoundly deaf. It’s been a journey learning Eoghan’s He got cochlear implants when he was 12 months old which are like hearing devices that help children hear, but Orla said Eoghan was born with an under-development in his auditory nerve and his cochlea, so a cochlear implant was never going to give him full benefit.

Orla said the family started to learn sign language with Eoghan when he was at a very early age and he has a dedicated full-time ISL classroom support teacher Tara McNally.

Eoghan is a second class at St Aidan’s National School in Kiltimagh, where he has an abundance of friends, is included in the games and GAA training.

"I think more than anything I hope that that community spirit came across because since the day he was born and he got his diagnosis our community have been behind us so much and always having such an interest in him," Orla said. "I talk about people going and wanting to take sign language classes when he was a baby and before he started creche or preschool."

Tara McNally, Castlebar, has been working with Eoghan since he was 12 months old under the ISL Home Tuition Scheme, which the Department of Education offers to families whose children have hearing loss.

Orla explained at the time, there was no role established for children like Eoghan in mainstream schools that would need ISL support, but then Tara started school with him under the SNA scheme.

She said that Eoghan's excellent lip reading and communication skills have been a huge advantage.

"What he has already achieved through his communication and how he communicates with the hearing world in school and he is a confident little boy is beyond our expectations," she said. "And I think part of that is he got the right support, the support that he needed to give him access to the world and that is what it's all about."

Orla said locally there has been a very positive reaction to the programme.

"Everybody is so proud of him and what a lot of people said to me was that they didn't actually realise the struggle of the journey that it took to get Eoghan the support that he needed, a lot of people didn't know that that was the case and I suppose historically people weren't fully aware of the sadness was associated with the past and people having to go to Dublin or being told not to use sign language," she said. "I think it really gave people a good insight into the pass but also to show how far deaf education has come."

Deaf Not Dumb can is available to watch on the RTÉ Player.