Cathy McCormack has always liked a challenge. She talks to Ali Bracken ahead of taking up her Fulbright Scholarship in deaf studies in the US.
Cathy McCormack has made a habit of breaking new ground. Studying at Trinity College Dublin she was the first deaf person in Ireland provided with a sign language interpreter and went on to graduate first in her class.
Now an occupational therapist, Cathy is the first deaf person in the public service workplace to have the support of a sign language interpreter. Indeed, she is the only deaf person in Ireland working in the occupational therapy field.
By setting a precedent, Cathy hopes the doors she has broken open remain ajar for others and, crucially, that her accomplishments challenge traditional perceptions surrounding deaf people.
"I wouldn't change being deaf," says Cathy proudly. "It has shaped who I am."
But it hasn't been an easy battle. It took two years of extensive lobbying at Trinity College before Cathy was provided with the services of a sign language interpreter, which, she says, made a huge difference to the latter part of her college education.
Cathy's determination to accept nothing short of equality is a principle she lives by and which has been nurtured since childhood. "There was an atmosphere in our house of learning," says Cathy, citing her parents as her biggest influence.
"That I wouldn't be able to do something because I'm deaf never surfaced at home."
Cathy was born with a progressive sensory hearing loss and has been profoundly deaf for the past two years. She attended mainstream primary and secondary school and describes this time as the worst period of her life.
The school itself was good, she stresses, but she did not always receive the support she needed and had no deaf peers. The biggest challenge she has faced in life, she says, was getting out of that system.
Cathy is senior occupational therapist with the Health Service Executive, Northern Area. Working with people with physical, sensory, learning and age-related disabilities, she loves the practical nature of her job and watching the improvements in the daily lives of her patients.
Cathy agrees she is highly motivated, saying that because of her deafness she may have had to work harder than others to progress in her career.
Asked if she was drawn to working with people with disabilities because she is deaf, Cathy is thoughtful.
"I was attracted to occupational therapy possibly because it has a philosophy of empowering people to take control of their own lives. To do their own problem solving and find their own solutions," says Cathy. "This is something I've done all my life."
Now, Cathy has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in deaf studies at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, the only liberal arts college in the world to cater exclusively for deaf students.
She leaves for Washington to undertake an MSc in administration in July.
Cathy says she was shocked and thrilled to win the scholarship but isn't the slightest bit nervous.
"I'm going from an everyday struggle with communication to where there'll be absolutely no problem whatsoever," she says. "It's like a dream come true."
True to form, Cathy can't wait to tackle the newest challenge moving to Washington will present - learning a new language - American sign.
"The vocabulary and sentence structure is very different," says Cathy, and is much more advanced than Irish sign. "It [ signing] is a very beautiful and expressive language. Learning it was the best thing I have ever done."
Now 30, Cathy developed her deaf identity when she was 18 and began meeting other deaf people and learning sign language. Cathy's speech is flawless and she believes it is a good idea for deaf people to try to learn both spoken and sign language if they can.
"Life is short," says Cathy, and this is what drives her. She doesn't have her life mapped out but simply tries to take opportunities as they cross her path, like the Fulbright scholarship.
Of the Disability Bill currently making its way through the Dáil, Cathy is critical. "It does not protect me or my rights. It is still very much a culture of having to beg for support rather than an entitlement."
While accessibility to third-level education for deaf students has advanced, says Cathy, much still needs to be done.
Since her graduation from Trinity in 1996, the university has founded the Centre for Deaf Studies and now trains interpreters.
As the first student in Ireland provided with a sign interpreter, Cathy is proud of starting that ball rolling. She believes that the more deaf students going through college, the more culture and attitudes will change, dispelling the stereotype of the "deaf tailor who doesn't speak" from people's consciousness.
Looking to the future, Cathy would like to see more deaf people and those with disabilities working in healthcare. "You can make more of a change when you're in here," explains Cathy, "than shouting about it from the outside."