But if you have, the questions will come thick and fast: 'If your parents sign, how do you learn to speak English?' They are sometimes called CODA - children of deaf adults, or in sign language: 'Mother Father Deaf'. "I didn't grow up with just deaf parents, I grew up with a huge deaf family and community. "I heard us being called all sorts of names like 'the dummy', 'the dummy White family', 'the dummy tailors', 'deaf and dumb' or 'monkey signers'. "I was discouraged from furthering my education and aspirations simply because I had a deaf family," she says.

Source: Irish Independent March 12, 2019 02:33 UTC