Last night on RTÉ2, First Dates Ireland featured a first for the show in both Ireland and the UK - a date conducted entirely in sign language.
27-year-old John Charles is a design student from Edenderry and a member of the Deaf community while 24-year-old Stephen from Dublin is an HR Manager, who is fluent in sign language.
Dublin is a small city, and the number of people with the ability to sign is limited, so it didn't come as a total surprise when it was revealed that John Charles and Stephen already knew one another.
The two daters are handsome, charming, confident - did we mention that Stephen is 'Mr. Gay Ireland'? However, their dinner date revealed just how many difficulties Deaf people face while looking for love.
"It’s really frustrating when people talk into my ear," John Charles told Stephen.
"I have to say ‘I’m Deaf!’ and then they just talk louder. I try explaining that talking louder doesn’t make a difference and it’s easier just to text."
Stephen is a hearing person but explained that he pursued deaf studies due to his own communications difficulties.
"Growing up I had a really severe speech impediment to the point where I couldn’t even fully pronounce my own name properly," he explained.
"I knew exactly what I wanted to say, I’d talk all the time but people couldn’t understand me. It meant that I was really interested in - if one way of communication wasn’t working for you that you could just choose an alternative," he says.
Twitter was absolutely loving the pair last night, here are some of our fav reactions:
Just Europe?
Took a lot to impress this guy #FirstDatesIRL pic.twitter.com/3RHbatIrGM
— Niall Fitzmaurice (@nfitzm) January 30, 2018
Cute TV
The sign language date on #FirstDatesIreland is honestly the cutest thing I've ever seen! 😍 #FirstDatesIrl @rte
— Ross Forde (@RossForde) January 30, 2018
#YestoISL
You know what the best thing about Irish Sign Language date on #FirstDatesIRL tonight was? The fact that @COCOtv didn't do a voiceover for the date. Such a small but powerful thing to do because it really made people pay attention to what a beautiful language ISL is! #YestoISL
— Caroline McGrotty (@CarolineMcTweet) January 30, 2018
Irish Sign Language Bill
The 2 lads signing on #firstdatesirl is the best thing on tv this week. I always remember deaf people telling us how they felt "extreme marginalisation" when the Irish Sign Language Bill was progressing through Seanad. Hopefully visibility can help break that down.👍 👐 #ISLabú
— Niall Ó Donnghaile (@NiallSF) January 30, 2018
Sign Skills
That was so amazing to watch, sign language is such a brilliant skill to have. Wow #FirstDatesIRL
— Aoife Ní Mhurchú (@Smurfjocks) January 30, 2018
Adorable
Unlikely that you’ll see anything more adorable on TV this week. #FirstDatesIRL pic.twitter.com/lhbUH8BYVZ
— Wolfgang 🏳️🌈 (@Golden_Gaytime) January 30, 2018
Missed last night's episode? Find out if these two are in it for the long run on RTÉ Player.
Tune in to First Dates Ireland on RTÉ2 every Tuesday at 9.30pm.
