'I love my country, but my country doesn't love my son' says Cork father of deaf child
Andrew Geary with his son Callum in 2012
The Cork father of a completely deaf child has called on the country to cherish all children equally and for them to be treated as equal citizens.
Speaking on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ, Andrew Geary, who works as a Garda sergeant, vowed that he would continue to campaign for his son to be “a full citizen of this State.”
Mr Geary said that while there had been “reasonable access” to education for his 12-year-old son Callum for the past eight years, he was years behind his twin Donnacha despite great family efforts.
“You need to have a degree in French to teach Leaving Cert French, anyone can walk into a deaf child's class at Leaving Cert and sign with primary school sign language ability," Mr Geary said.
“If he is given the bridge to his language he could achieve absolutely anything and that's my belief. Given the right support, given an interpreter (we had that for two years), we can see what stop that bus will stop at with regards to his potential.”
Mr Geary said that while there are deaf successes, deaf people were 10 times less likely to go to third level, four times less likely to have a job, three times more likely to suffer some kind of abuse during their life and that 80% of deaf people leave school with the average reading ability of an eight or nine-year-old child.
“I know we'll beat some of those numbers, but it's just that you have to have shoulders to the wheel every minute of every day. We all know we have two jobs (parents of children with special needs), which is to try to get our beautiful democracy on the edge of Europe to recognise our children as true and full citizens and I won't rest until my son is accepted as a full citizen of this State.
“I give my day, every day as an ambassador for our democracy and that's my life goal.
“That's what we ask our country - to cherish them all equally - those were beautiful people who wrote (the Proclamation) brilliantly a long time ago and we're still chasing those dreams.”
Mr Geary explained that his twin sons were born in 2008, but it was three years later before they found that Callum was completely deaf, he had no auditory nerve which ruled out a cochlear implant as a choice.
There was no newborn screening in place in 2008, he said. Ireland was one of the last countries in Europe to introduce the procedure.
He and his wife Helen travelled the world seeking a treatment, but none could be found. All the family learned sign language, (they have two sons older than the twins) and were welcomed by the deaf community.
“I had no experience of deafness whatsoever, don't know what it is to live in that bubble, the deaf live on a total island on our island, until you come on to that island you have no idea of that kind of life.
"It is the same for any parent of a child with special needs or different needs, you go into that world and you have to open the door and take one baby step at a time until you understand what journey you're on.”
Mr Geary said that all parents want the absolute best for their children.
“I have a mantra in life, I don't let anyone define me, and I don't define anyone else, they define themselves and if they want to tell me what their cultural community language beliefs are it's up to me to accept that.”
A few weeks ago he and his wife were distressed when Callum told them that he would never hold a job because he was deaf.
“That hurt. I've been working hard on this for a long, long time, it just told me that a lot of my effort had been useless, it says to me that I've got to do a whole lot more work, no matter what you've done in the past - there's a whole lot more to be done.”
Mr Geary said that he felt a failure because of the pain in the deaf community.
“They're living in a bubble, not wanted, my son is so wanted inside the front door of my house, but when he steps outside that front door - this country, that I love with my heart, my soul, my being, doesn't want my son and I ask myself every day - when I wake up it's my first thought in the morning - what are you going to do today, going to sleep at night - what did you do today?
"There's an island of 5,000 people there and they have nothing, we might have given them an act, we gave them UN status, but they're still begging.”
Mr Geary said he felt he had achieved nothing.
“I'm a sergeant in An Garda Síochána, I couldn't ask for a better, more rewarding, demanding role. I love my job.
“I've been given the privilege of doing our job abroad, this country is just loved, because we communicate, we listen, the community workers in this country, the advocates, the charities, the volunteers, this country is built on their backbone, we are nothing without those people, they just give their heart, their soul, their absolute being without angst and that's what I love about this country.
“I love my country, but my country doesn't love my son. Our story is simple, we have twins, both boys are bright, we know that because we almost had to prove Calum's intelligence. Donnacha can read, he's reading Lord of the Rings, he's really enjoying that, Callum is reading Roald Dahl, but he wants more.”
Mr Geary said that schools needed access to fluent sign language interpreters who could bring the language to life.
As it was, teachers were effectively speaking ‘pidgin’ sign language as every teacher could not be expected to go to Trinity College for four years to become an interpreter.
“Callum has had brilliant teachers in St Columba's who have given their heart and soul, but Callum needs more, he needs a bridge to his potential because there's a fire in his eyes - I just need to set fire to that. It hurts him, he sees the books his brothers can pick up, he's just as bright and he works very hard, my wife works very hard, we sit down and read together. He's really hard on himself.”
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