Hands On, the television show for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Ireland was not commissioned for a new series (2014-2015).

The show has been running for 18 years and the sudden cut means that the Deaf community are now losing out on an accessible TV show in their first and preferred language of Irish Sign Language.

RTÉ has not replaced this programme but has declared they will rest the programme for a year and look at ways to refresh and further develop their output.

RTÉ plans to commission two documentaries (one for delivery in 2014 and one in 2015) and the programmes will be both for and about people who Deaf and hard of hearing.

It is the concern of the Irish Deaf Society that commissioning of new programmes and documentaries will not reflect the Irish Deaf Community or Irish Sign Language in its proper way and could involve those with no knowledge of the Deaf community making new TV programmes.

The decision to cut Hands On was not consulted with the representatives of the RTE Access Group - which includes other organisations such as Irish Deaf Youth Association, Deafhear and the IHHA. We attended only a meeting as recently as the 15th July 2014 whereby this issue was not raised.

We would urge RTÉ to reconsider the cut of Hands On this year and discuss with the TV Access Group in September (our next meeting).

We meet with RTÉ on the 26th September 2014 and would like to hand over this petition for the attention of the commissioning body of RTÉ

We ask:

"We the Deaf community and its supporters urge RTÉ to reconsider the cutting of Hands On and reinstate the series for the Autumn broadcast of 2014 (or when feasible). The programme was cut without any discussion with the Deaf community and concerns are rife with the documentaries planned for 2014 and 2015"