Sir, - While I am conscious and respectful of Irish cultural tradition - not to speak ill of the dead - I feel that a number of comments in your obituary of Sister Nicholas Griffey (March 2nd) should be challenged - especially the final paragraph which attributes the current assertiveness of the deaf community to Sister Nicholas.
In my experience - both as a member of the deaf community and secretary of the Irish Deaf Society - I am nonplussed by this claim of assertiveness. Recent surveys show the very high antipathy and passivity of deaf people, especially in terms of participating in society. Fewer than 2 per cent of deaf people are educated at university level and the vast majority do not enjoy the functional level of literacy. The majority are employed in manual and low- paid jobs with little or no promotion prospects.
All of this is a direct consequence of the oral method of teaching with its emphasis on training of speech and lip-reading at the expense of sign language and actual education. For the oral method to succeed, the banishment and downgrading of sign language was deemed necessary. Unfortunately, deaf children's access to the curriculum was regarded by those controlling their education as less important than their ability to lip-read and to have speech.
The reference to deaf people prior to the 1940s can be regarded as disrespectful to thousands of deaf people and their educators who lived before 1940s. The 1891 census show the wide variety of employment in which deaf people were found - teachers, auctioneers, tailors, shoemakers and carpenters. It is commonly known that they possessed a high functional level of literacy, which enabled them to possess the necessary confidence to integrate as much as possible into society.
Regarding the introduction of oralism to Ireland, it should be remembered that oralism already existed in other non-Catholic and private small Catholic schools in this country, but their effects were minimal. However, the growing power of middle-class parents of deaf children in the 1930s and 1940s forced the Cabra schools to consider the introduction of oralism from Britain. The decision to introduce oralism was fateful and unfortunate.
The re-integration of deaf people into the society is often cited as a principal aim of oralism. While the aim itself is to be applauded, however, the current and historical evidence clearly shows that oralism has achieved the opposite. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN BOSCO CONAMA,
Secretary,
Irish Deaf Society,
Blessington Street,
Dublin 7.