Barriers to Communication

by Ciara Campbell

 

 

Ireland is celebrated as being quite a welcoming, inviting and open country, this is our national identity. Home is the foundation of many Irish people's lives and something that, when abroad, we love to acclaim. Our 'mammies' are the heart of the family and our red hair brings happiness to many of the tourists' faces, so the stereotypes say. However, what tourists do not see is the prejudice that some Irish people feel towards foreign nationals living in Ireland. It is not something that makes me proud to be Irish and is something that I witness on a weekly basis. Incidents that I have personally witnessed include foreign taxi men being openly ignored because of their race, Muslim girls being stared at and talked about in school because of their hijab and people under the influence shouting slurs at innocent foreign people passing them by. Although the majority of Irish people are open and welcoming, it is the people who continue to strive for marginalisation that hinder our positive multicultural attitudes.

 

An incident that I have witnessed that affected me greatly was when I was in secondary school. A new girl was brought into my class in second year that was originally from Poland. She had very little English and also suffered with autism. The majority of my class were around the age of thirteen and so we had not been informed about autism and what effect it has on a person. There was no special needs assistant or helper to guide the girl through the year at school which says a lot about Ireland's stance on special needs in schools, however that is an entirely different problem altogether. Due to our young age, we had very little education about multiculturalism, culture shock, adaptation and the many other things that this girl was going through because of her new home here in Ireland. Multiculturalism within Irish primary schools is a relatively new thing and when I attended primary school, there were few to none foreign kids in attendance. This and the lack of education about multiculturalism led to this girl having a very difficult time during her secondary school years. She was not given the assistance she needed to cope in this new school and she was bullied. I am certainly not using a lack of education as an excuse for the girls who bullied her because they did so out of ignorance and stupidity but it would have made a huge difference if we were taught about different cultures in primary school. Cultural diversity is something that is becoming more and more relative to daily life. Every day we are engaging with people from different origins and the education system needs to take this into account in order to keep up to date with Ireland's ever growing multicultural community.

 

There were huge barriers to communication for this girl. Firstly, she had very little English which meant that she now had to adopt a new culture and learn a new language. This would have been incredibly difficult for a girl at thirteen. The girls in my year had already spent first year together and the new girl had to figure out a new class with little English and her communication disorder. Upon reflection, I regret immensely not stepping in to help her through that year. I was not one of the people who bullied her but because of my lack of education on the matter, I also did not know how to communicate with her. Her ethnicity should have been celebrated and taught to us but instead highlighted her difference. Multiculturalism needs to be taught from a young age in order for Ireland to even begin to consider itself as a diverse country because what is the point in having a diverse range of nationalities if people are being marginalised. Our nature may be welcoming but with racist incidents continuing to rise, something needs to change.

 

My father has travelled around the world during his adulthood and he considers himself to be quite rounded and well educated on cultural diversity but my mother is the complete opposite. She would not understand the implications of being different, she is not naïve, but she was never in a situation that forced her to open her eyes to what other people go through due to their ethnicity. This comparison is the basis for many Irish people. Some people like to be oblivious to the harsh realities of foreign nationals living in Ireland but the high number of immigrants means that this attitude needs to change. Nationalism is a great thing to have but if it is being used as a way to block out different cultures, it may not be something to celebrate. The Polish girl that was in my year was dropped into a new school and forced to adapt straight away with no help at all. She was set up to fail when she should have been given the necessary tools to help her settle in. It takes effort to separate oneself from similarity and open oneself to difference but that is what many people in Ireland need to do. There is a lot of space for diversity in Ireland but the mind set of people who continue to marginalise needs to change. For the girl in my year, education about multiculturalism could have made her life a little bit easier but the acceptance of difference also needs to be encouraged.

 

Being different should not mean that you are open to being ridiculed; it should be something that is taught and celebrated. Ireland is a country that prides itself on nationality but we are also home to many different cultures. Education and understanding about these cultures is what needs to be promoted for marginalisation to stop. Barriers to communication could eventually disappear if people open their minds to difference. Not only would it prove that Ireland is the welcoming and open country that it seems to be but it would also encourage people to be more open about their ethnicity and culture.