peter
“I lived in St Joseph’s House for Adult Deaf and Deaf-blind since 1966, and I’m celebrating my 50 years here this month so I’m planning to throw a big party! I’ve been a part of the Deaf Community all my life, and I can tell you it’s been a real rollercoaster at times. When I first lived here, the nuns ran the house. They were tough times. Ireland was a very different place back then; life was hard and there were very few opportunities for us. We didn’t really get to go out or get involved with the community, and we also had to work very hard. But in the last 10-15 years, life has changed a lot and we have more staff to help us. We even have weekly programmes like going out for a morning coffee, a day for shopping, an exercise day, or smoothie making classes. Over the years I’ve made some wonderful friends and shared lovely memories with other people who lived here from all over Ireland. Unfortunately, the home I lived for the past 50 years is now sold and we will have to move to a new home in the next 3-5 years. I am hoping we all get to stay together as it is really important for us to be able to communicate with each other and be part of this community. I will really miss it, but I’m very lucky my life has really improved in recent years and I have had so much more opportunities to live a more ‘normal’ life. I hope this improvement will keep growing and that one day we will be able to live together in a big home like one big family.”