Dublin Zoo, in collaboration with Chime, the national charity for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, has begun to offer Irish Sign Language (ISL) interpreted videos for visitors through QR codes.
The initiative aims to offer a greater level of accessibility to more people.
Speaking at the launch today, Director of Dublin Zoo, Dr Christoph Schwitzer, believes the new resource will make the zoo a more inclusive place for all visitors.
"Here at Dublin Zoo, we've got a Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusivity (DEAI) working group and they always look for opportunities such as 'how can we make the zoo even more accessible to all the people who come here?'"
" We have these 'keeper talks' that we have been having for many, many years and people love them. People really like to know and like to learn about our animals. So we thought, ok, one opportunity would be actually to translate our keeper talks into Irish Sign Language," Mr Schwitzer said.
"In the past, accessibility was all about wheelchair accessibility, but it's much more than that now," he added.
ISL-interpreted videos are now available for six different keeper talks at various locations across the zoo, such as the habitats of the Asian Lions, the Southern White Rhinos, the Asian Elephants, the Red Pandas, the Humboldt Penguins and the California Sea Lions.
The zookeeper talks provide detailed insights into the animals and their habitats, allowing ISL users to learn directly from the zookeepers in their preferred language.
For many adults, children and families of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community who attended today’s launch, the excitement went far beyond seeing the elephants up close and personal.
It was about finally being able to access information in a public setting: something that, until now, hasn’t always been possible, according to parent and ISL user, Emma Cahill, whose daughter Bonnie is deaf.
"I was recently at a national event a while ago and there was no ISL interpreter there, which I found very disheartening as a parent of a deaf child," she said.
"ISL should be readily available. There shouldn't even be a question why it's not available, it just should be there and on all of our national platforms," Ms Cahill added.
Chime’s Director of Advocacy and Communications, Danielle McLaughlin, believes that as one of Ireland’s official languages, ISL should be provided in all public spaces.
"A lot of people do prefer Irish Sign Language videos. They do prefer the interpretation. Texts can be quite difficult to interpret so it is much easier for people to experience it.
"If it's their first language and you're using Irish Sign Language all the time, like you and I would speak English, then it's much easier to understand and it's a much more enjoyable experience," Ms McLaughlin explained.
