My history blog looking at the experiences of Irish Deaf people in Irish schools, workhouses, courts, prisons and other institutions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
I talk about my progress in the last while on my blog, including my first visit to PRONI and discovering files on Deaf Women Prisoners, as well as my upcoming presentations at the Deaf Village Ireland and the Kinghan Church, Belfast.
Here
we see another example of a poor Deaf woman dealing with a harsh institutional
system - but with the benefit of a good education and impressive literacy.
"Geoffrey has never had a mental disability. His family sent him to Meanwood Park Mental Hospital in Leeds because they couldn’t cope with his deafness. He didn’t get out again for 22 years."
This clip features the testimony of a Deaf man placed in a mental hospital.
"This collection of videos takes in Storthes Hall, Stanley Royd, Meanwood Park Colony, New Church Hospital, Carstairs and former service user experiences.. Documentary about the introduction of the Community Care Act in April 1993 and the closure of many of Britain's older mental hospitals. This report reveals how thousands of people, who were locked away in such institutions for long periods of their lives, were never mentally ill in the first place. They were incarcerated for being deaf or pregnant or simply unwanted, but, once committed they were automatically deemed insane, and had no way of escaping. Includes the personal testimonies of a number of victims of this cruel and outdated system."
A full transcript into English is at: http://www.meanwoodpark.co.uk/insight/out-of-sight-the-documentary/
Many thanks to Julie Wolfers for the link to this documentary.
ISL version of a story about Henry Brady, a Deaf man living in Drogheda, Co Louth in 1896, arrested for stealing a watch belonging to a Norwegian sailor!
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ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
I'm back, here to sign another story to you about Deaf history, prisoners, courts and all the rest! I've just come across a great new story, that happened in Drogheda - where I live, so of course I was really interested to find out what happened!
This story is about a Deaf man who was arrested for stealing a pocket watch. So what happened?
On 7th September 1896, the Petty Sessions court was held in Drogheda. The Petty Sessions were the lowest of the courts, the equivalent of today's District Court, for hearing small matters. A defendant was called, Henry Brady, a Deaf man from Drogheda, accused of stealing a pocket watch from a Norwegian sailor. But the start of the hearing was beset by communication issues; first off, a defendant who was deaf; secondly the Norwegian sailor did not have a word of English! It looked like communication might be impossible. But further inquiry showed that the Deaf man could read and write, thus was able to communicate with the court. As for the Norwegian, his ship was in Drogheda port, and him and his fellow sailors were about town; his captain was able to speak English, and agreed to interpret for the hearing. With these communication issues resolved, the hearing began.
The first witness called was the policeman on duty, who gave his evidence. He stated that on the previous night, a Sunday, at about 11.15pm, he was on patrol when the Norwegian approached him in an upset state, but unable to communicate. Through gestures the policeman understood that his pocket watch had been stolen. Earlier that night, the policeman had seen the Norwegian in the company of the Deaf man, Henry Brady, and suspected Brady had taken the watch. The policeman soon came across Brady and followed him down the street. Brady noticed he was being followed, and quickened his pace; Brady eventually ducked into a lane, and the policeman ran to catch up with him. On turning the corner he saw Brady dropping some item before running off.
With the darkness of the night, the policeman had to use a match to light the ground, where he came across the Norwegian's watch. it was now clear that Brady had been the thief. He caught up with Brady and arrested him; following a written caution, Brady made a written statement and was placed in gaol.
After the policeman had given his evidence, the Norwegian sailor was called, along with his interpreter. He stated that the previous night he had met Brady at the railway station and accompanied him in a friendly manner down as far as the bridge near Shop Street. There, they met two young ladies and spent some time with them - though who knows how these four communicated with each other, through gesture or other means! They walked a little way down towards the church where the girls left them.
At this point the Norwegian checked the time - but found his watch was gone! Brady had already gone off at this stage. The sailor found a policeman and attempted as best he could to convey what had happened.
At this point the written statement of the Norwegian was given to Brady in the dock to read over and was asked his response. He read it and wrote a single line at the bottom, which read: 'I am guilty.' Brady had admitted his theft to the court. The judge then wrote to him a single line of his own: 'One month's imprisonment'.
Brady was then removed to Drogheda Gaol to begin his sentence.
Hi all. Now, some more ISL information for you if you're interested in researching Deaf history.
One place to look that's packed with rich and plentiful references to Deaf people is newspapers. In times gone by, old newspapers had long, detailed articles that covered Deaf people's experiences in court, or talking about the Cabra Deaf schools (St Mary's and St Joseph's), class reunions and so on.
You can go to the National Library which pretty much has all the newspapers published in Ireland to date, or you could try a website called IrishNewsArchive.com. Both resources are good, particularly the website. You pay 10 euro for a 24 hour period of access to the site, within which you can search, explore, read articles, and save them. Just last night I paid the money and have since found some new information already!
Sorry for the top of my head being cut off in the last vlog!
To clarify: What are the 'institutions' I will be talking about?
I'll be looking at both state and private (charity) institutions.
1) Schools
2) Courts and Law
3) Workhouses
4) Prisons
5) Mental Institutions / Lunatic Asylums
At the moment I am beginning to focus on ideas around reflexivity in my research - who am I? So here are some aspects of who I am...
- I have been an interpreter for 9 years
- I do not come from a Deaf family
- I've been working with the Deaf community for about 15 years
- I did a Master's thesis in DCU about Deaf politics
- I worked on Hands On as a researcher for two years
- I worked in the Irish Deaf Society as Administrator
- I received my Interpreting Diploma from CDS in 2005, so I've been a professional interpreter for 9 years now.
So that's me; a quick summary anyway. What I'm hoping to do now is investigate who 'I' am a little further. The biases and baggage I may bring to my research, and also the crucial discussion of power when it comes to research processes and production.
Obviously the aspects of 'me' I have outlined here will all need examination and dissection over the coming months! I'm looking forward to it!
A very quick ISL video (with English
voiceover) summarising my research ideas at this stage. English
voiceover is not great, so apologies - it'll be clearer next time!
