Miss-Delectable
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California Chronicle | Deaf Talkabout
Conall Smyth (inset), a profoundly deaf 22-year-old man from Castlewellan, died in an accident on the Castlewellan Road, just outside Clough, on Wednesday morning of last week as he made his way to work by car around 7am. Educated at the hearing impaired units of Holy Family Primary School, Teconnaught, and St Comcilles High School, Crossgar, he had been driving the same route since leaving school at 16. Conall's first job was in a car-body repair workshop and he had come to be regarded as a skilled fitter well on top of his job.
Conall's funeral was held at St Malachy's Church in Castlewellan attended by over 200 and with an interpreter for the large number of deaf mourners. The family asked for four members of the NI Deaf Karting Club dressed in their karting uniforms to carry the coffin out of the church after the service and they told me they felt very honoured to do this for the family. His mum Ann and sister Leona will miss a wonderful son and brother. His sister was always by his side -- to the very end.
His friends from the club tell me Conall made his deaf karting debut in Cork at the Irish Deaf Karting Open in September 2007 and since then had shown himself to be an exceptional driver with a great skill for the sport. Last April Conall was part of the winning Northern Ireland team in their sixth successive Euro Nations competition.
Under the Lamp with Carolyn is the name of a brand new chat show for deaf people being filmed by the London Remark! Company at the Waterfront in Belfast this Sunday. Carolyn Nabarro will be interviewing all kinds of people from the deaf community and it will be broadcast on community channels and online. The film crew are all deaf, the sound crew are all hearing, and there will be a maximum of 30 audience members at each morning and afternoon performance.
Deaf Talkabout is one of the items being filmed and I was taken up the Shankill Road to film where I was born and grew up.
It was a poor neighbourhood, but I remember it as a very happy place with children playing in the car-free streets and the aroma from my grandmother's tiny wee kitchen where she was always baking soda farls and potato bread.
I was 11 when I lost my hearing and it was on walking home one night with my father after a visit to my grandmother that the reality of my hearing loss really hit home. It was a few days before Christmas and carol singers were gathered outside a gaily-lit house with their lanterns. My father told me they were singing 'O come all ye faithful' and I remember bursting into tears knowing what I was missing and would never again hear this lovely carol.
The interviewer wanted to know if we deaf folk had been put out by the Troubles and I was glad to be able to tell them that the deaf community on both sides never lost their friendship with each other throughout the 30 years.
Conall Smyth (inset), a profoundly deaf 22-year-old man from Castlewellan, died in an accident on the Castlewellan Road, just outside Clough, on Wednesday morning of last week as he made his way to work by car around 7am. Educated at the hearing impaired units of Holy Family Primary School, Teconnaught, and St Comcilles High School, Crossgar, he had been driving the same route since leaving school at 16. Conall's first job was in a car-body repair workshop and he had come to be regarded as a skilled fitter well on top of his job.
Conall's funeral was held at St Malachy's Church in Castlewellan attended by over 200 and with an interpreter for the large number of deaf mourners. The family asked for four members of the NI Deaf Karting Club dressed in their karting uniforms to carry the coffin out of the church after the service and they told me they felt very honoured to do this for the family. His mum Ann and sister Leona will miss a wonderful son and brother. His sister was always by his side -- to the very end.
His friends from the club tell me Conall made his deaf karting debut in Cork at the Irish Deaf Karting Open in September 2007 and since then had shown himself to be an exceptional driver with a great skill for the sport. Last April Conall was part of the winning Northern Ireland team in their sixth successive Euro Nations competition.
Under the Lamp with Carolyn is the name of a brand new chat show for deaf people being filmed by the London Remark! Company at the Waterfront in Belfast this Sunday. Carolyn Nabarro will be interviewing all kinds of people from the deaf community and it will be broadcast on community channels and online. The film crew are all deaf, the sound crew are all hearing, and there will be a maximum of 30 audience members at each morning and afternoon performance.
Deaf Talkabout is one of the items being filmed and I was taken up the Shankill Road to film where I was born and grew up.
It was a poor neighbourhood, but I remember it as a very happy place with children playing in the car-free streets and the aroma from my grandmother's tiny wee kitchen where she was always baking soda farls and potato bread.
I was 11 when I lost my hearing and it was on walking home one night with my father after a visit to my grandmother that the reality of my hearing loss really hit home. It was a few days before Christmas and carol singers were gathered outside a gaily-lit house with their lanterns. My father told me they were singing 'O come all ye faithful' and I remember bursting into tears knowing what I was missing and would never again hear this lovely carol.
The interviewer wanted to know if we deaf folk had been put out by the Troubles and I was glad to be able to tell them that the deaf community on both sides never lost their friendship with each other throughout the 30 years.