Tonight's First Dates Ireland will air a date conducted entirely in sign language.
It's a first for the show in Ireland and the UK - a Deaf dater hasn't taken part in First Dates Ireland until now. And although Deaf daters have featured in the UK version of the show, their dates have not been conducted completely in sign language.
Tonight, viewers will see that John Charles, a design student who is a member of the deaf community and HR professional Stephen, who is fluent in sign language, have actually met before. The pair immediately start communicating in sign language.
John Charles tells Stephen that when he goes on a date with a hearing person who doesn't sign, they have to use a phone to communicate, and text back and forth.
It’s really frustrating when people talk into my ear.
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.
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Stephen tells viewers that he decided to pursue deaf studies at college after a difficult start with his own communications skills.
Growing up I had a really severe speech impediment to the point where I couldn’t even fully pronounce my own name properly. 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.
Last week's show saw two matches hit it off, with one couple bonding over their love of Maniac 2000 and another discovering they had met each other over 30 years ago. However, a pairing between Tallafornia's 'Listen did you get your boobs done?' Phil and Louth girl Amy-Maria, didn't exactly set the world alight.
We'll just have to tune in later to find out how things go for our first daters.
First Dates Ireland airs on RTÉ2 tonight at 9.30pm.
