International Week of Deaf People 2026

As we come to the end of International Week of Deaf People 2026 and ISL Awareness Week, it was great to see so many different events and activities taking place throughout the week

Here at Reach Deaf Services, we had some events of our own. We held our monthly ISL Catch-Up and gave a presentation about the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the Deaf Flag. Also our everyone came together to create this piece, inspired by the World Federation of the Deaf – See the link -> Click Here

We also held our ISL Awards, celebrating our staff members who received their Level 1 and Level 2 Irish Sign Language certificates, also had a very special surprise for Frankie Berry, who is retiring after 40 years at Reach Deaf Services. We celebrated Frankie by hosting a special “This Is Your Life” event to recognise her incredible contribution over the years.

We also launched our own ISL Awareness training, “Beyond the Surface.” The aim of this training is to go beyond basic Deaf Awareness by exploring Deaf Culture and the Deaf Community in greater depth. This was led by ISL Team, the training was developed and provided by Deaf staff.

A huge thank you to the ISL Team for organising and contributing to all the wonderful events throughout the week.