Hands On

Hands On: St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys

This week Hands On presents a fascinating feature dedicated to Deaf history and in particular the role St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys in Cabra played in the development of the Irish Deaf community.

We also visit the Deaf Heritage Centre, on the grounds of St Joseph’s, which has been collecting and preserving important teaching materials, stories, film footage and photos of the school’s 150 years – from its establishment in 1856 to its closure in 2006.

Hands On: St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls:

St Mary’s is one of the oldest Deaf schools in the world and continues to teach Deaf children to the present day. It has been one of the most significant contributors to the education of Deaf children around the world.

Through remarkable archive footage, photographs and personal accounts of past pupils and teachers, presenter Seán Herlihy explores St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls unlikely establishment during the Famine of the 1840s, how the “Cabra Method” of educating Deaf children spread all over the world, and how the controversial decision to ban sign language in 1950 in favour of an “oral education” impacted the students at the time.