On 12th February 2025, the fortnightly Cork City Comhairle na nÓg meeting featured lámh training with a speech and language therapist – Jenna Pyne. Lámh is a manual sign system used by people with intellectual and communication needs in Ireland. It is used to assist those with understanding, speaking, and/or hearing difficulties, as well as offering a sense of control, belonging, and autonomy.

Some of the key features of lámh is that you pronounce the words as you sign them. This helps the person to see and hear what you are saying to them, as well as having more of a lasting impact, because signed words can hold longer in memory than spoken words. It is also important to use Keyword signing, as this simplifies what needs to be said using natural gestures. For example: It’s time for lunch ⇒ time and lunch are the only words that you sign.

The training consisted of learning about 30 basic signs and using them in a series of engaging activities. The event attendees also learned about the struggles of people with disabilities and how it is important for everyone to be able to communicate with and understand each other. Projects like The Lámh Project show that even a little “hello” can make a difference. Cork City Comhairle na nÓg will be organising a Pop-up Youth Space on June 7th, where the members of the council are going to act as volunteers to create an inclusive and comforting space for people with all kinds of abilities. It is important for us to be able to use lámh as part of casual speech when we know that it would help someone connect better.

Inspired, some of our members even discussed possible lámh promotion in schools, but if you want to learn more about lámh and its uses now, check out the official lamh.org website, as well as their social media:

https://www.instagram.com/lamhsign

https://www.facebook.com/lamhsign

https://www.youtube.com/lamhsignsystem