Reflecting on Calum’s appearance & tweets after, it’s fair to say many thousands of deaf ppl able 2 lead good lives if not constrained by societal attitudes & weak legislation & inadequate education. Many of them managed to raise families & business successfully. 1/8

Of course this is not to say that the current status quo is okay! Imagine if these constraints were not there, they would be much more successful. Not only them carrying the burden of cost, their families and society suffer! Invest in them! 2/

They are real ‘unsung’ (excuse the pun) or ‘hand waving’ heroes I believe the existence of deaf communities as a buffer / a haven is a major factor out buffering our constraints. There are unseen or unknown small victories out there! Two of my favourite stories are: 3/

When I grew up in the West of Ireland, dominant narrative surrounding emigration to Britain during 1950/60s was always negative with very few odd successes & it influenced me in some way until I met a group of older deaf tailors who told their experiences during 1950/60s 4/

they enjoyed their time in London & treated well & well paid! They were in demand for their trade especially by big fashion shops. They seldom experienced anti Irish bias & all is because they were well dressed / dapper & didn’t have accents that would betray their Irish ID 5/

They didn’t represent popular held Irish stereotypes held by Londoners! . Another story was a group of deaf harness makers (jobs became obsolete after the rise of motor cars!) Despite limited curriculum they had at St Joseph’s school for deaf boys (up to early 1950s), 6/

they were highly sought after by horse owners & they were recruited immediately when they finished school. Comments abt their work were made: elite, professional, master etc. Back to tailors in London, they told me they were recruited at the moment they got off train London! 7/

There is so much hidden history about the employment experience of deaf people in Ireland - of course a lot often can be tragic and heart wrenching but there were some successful examples like I mentioned above! 8/8

@IrishDeafSoc @studies_centre @RyanTubridyShow @_IHREC @DeafnotDefeated @TCDAbility @TCDEquality @UCDEqualStudies