University College Dublin has announced plans to become more welcoming for deaf people.
An initative to boost to communication between deaf students and those who aren't is being developed by the college.
It will involve Skype being used where there's no human interpreter or where the non-deaf person doesn't know Irish sign language.
Elayne Ruane, a UCD Computer Science Student commented:
"UCD’s Access & Lifelong Learning Centre provides interpreters to deaf students for all lectures but this is not generally known outside the College."
"Internally, we have also identified a need to increase awareness amongst students and staff around how they can communicate better with deaf students even if they don’t know Irish sign language."
The team at UCD say the move aims to boost awareness among staff and students about how to improve communication in the deaf community.
Anthony Ventresque, Director of the UCD Complex Software Lab explains how easy it is to communicate with someone who is deaf:
"There are many simple adjustments that can be made when interacting with a deaf person to improve communication even if you don’t know any sign language."
