National ISL Day 2021

10th December 2021

Next Tuesday is National ISL Day. It has been a phenomenal four years since the ISL Act 2017 was passed by Dáil Éireann and signed into law by President Higgins on the 24th of December. It has been a whirlwind four years. The IDS have worked vigorously on the implementation of the Act, which commenced in December 2020. We celebrate this on the 14th of December, alongside the 40th anniversary of the IDS which would have been held on the 13th of January 2021.  Unfortunately, due to Covid and the restrictions we couldn’t organise any celebrations such as dinner parties or anything like that. What is important to bear in mind is that the IDS was founded in 1981.  

However, what we can do is enjoy a series of ISL videos about the IDS, National ISL day and the 40th anniversary of the IDS. We will hold these on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and our website. The series of videos will include the timeline of the achievements which the ideas have attained from 1981 to 2021. Another video will be Fergus Dunne presenting on his experiences on campaigning and lobbying for Deaf education. Teresa Lynch will speak to the meaning and understanding of ISL. Kay Daly will speak about life with the Deaf Community throughout that time frame. It will be interesting viewing. 

If you can at all, wear blue on Tuesday – if you can wear a blue garment, blue nails, any garment with the colour blue, maybe you would even be willing to dye your hair blue! If so, send your photos to advocacy@irishdeafsociety.ie.  

The meaning of the color blue is that it shows our appreciation of Sign Language. If you would like more information on the meaning of blue, we have a link on our website explaining why we use the colour blue –https://www.irishdeafsociety.ie/about/blue/