REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE MID-WEST SCHOOL FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF THE MID-WEST SCHOOL FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED ON FRIDAY 30TH OCOTBER 1998
It is a source of particular pleasure for me to be here today for the opening of your new school building – and I am delighted to be party to the celebration of an achievement on which you have worked so hard - a beautiful new building to accommodate the Mid-West School for Hearing-Impaired Children in Limerick. From my own family experience, I share a very special interest in facilities for the hearing impaired - and for this reason I am very grateful to the Chairperson, Fr. O’Malley, and to the Board of Management for inviting me to perform this opening ceremony.
The move to a magnificent new building, almost twenty years since your school was first founded, provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on the achievements of those intervening years – from that important day in 1979 when temporary accommodation was opened in prefabricated classrooms, to the opening of this modern facility – another major milestone in the development of education facilities for the hearing impaired - one of the most challenging areas in education. While many of you will always have special memories of the years spent in those rooms, I know that very few tears were shed the day the bulldozers came to demolish them!
Communication skills are central to the development and growth of every child. For people whose hearing is intact, spoken language begins to develop soon after birth effortlessly and with amazing rapidity – with the early school years devoted to further development of the spoken language and the skills associated with the written form of that language.
Deafness, or hearing impairment, seems to strike at the very heart of that complex process. In many cases deafness initially cuts the child off from normal access to spoken language. This presents an enormous challenge not only to the child but to his or her family and to the education system itself. Above all, the diagnosis of deafness means that every effort has to be made, as early as possible, to ensure that communication and learning continue to be possible for the child.
A greater understanding of the nature of language and communication, combined with early diagnosis and related educational support, has had a significant impact on the education of the deaf in recent decades. Technological advances have also increased the range of possibilities for deaf people of all ages. In spite of the fact that deafness has been the subject of debate and study for centuries, it is a disability which, unfortunately, is still not adequately understood by many people in ordinary life – much to the disadvantage of those who are deaf - and a reminder that society in general needs to make increased efforts to understand the nature of the various disabilities.
For this reason I am pleased to see that your new school building is very closely linked to Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School – that the connection is not confined to the recent physical linking of the two buildings - but it symbolises the continuation of the high level of integration and co-operation which has existed since the school for hearing impaired children was first established. Such an arrangement is of tremendous mutual benefit to both schools - ensuring, for example, that pupils with impaired hearing will have access to an extended range of educational opportunities - including daily contact with their hearing peers – and that the hearing pupils will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the problems associated with hearing impairment.
Of course, those who have first-hand experience of the impact of deafness are the parents themselves – and it is through the dedication and work of parents that the phenomenon of deafness is addressed in the first instance. It is the parents who have to make the necessary adjustments in their methods of early communication - and through such adjustments, to reopen or recreate, in the very early years, appropriate channels of communication with their hearing-impaired children. I would like, therefore, to take this opportunity to pay very special tribute to the parents who are present here today, and indeed to all parents of children with impaired hearing. The work which you do with your children is invaluable and your patience and perseverance is an inspiration to everyone.
As your children grow older, the years which they spend in school are also of tremendous importance. In spite of the major challenge which the needs of deaf children pose for education systems, teachers and educationlists work with diligence and dedication to respond effectively to those needs. Research and technological advances both in hearing-aid equipment and in information technology have made significant impacts on education – and I am pleased to see that you are taking advantage of these developments in the school. I want to congratulate the Principal, teachers and the entire staff on your achievements and to wish you continued future success.
I fully realise that the completion of this project is the result of a major co-operative effort involving the Boards of Management and staffs of the two schools on the campus, the Department of Education, parents and friends of the children and, of course, their many supporters and sponsors down through the years.
In declaring the new building open, my final wishes concern all those hearing is impaired. I hope that you may never lack the opportunity to develop and communicate your thoughts and opinions - and I hope that those of us whose hearing is intact will never fail to listen to what you have to say to us.