Signs are good for Raheny weather girl

CAROLINE Worthington, a deaf woman from Raheny,
recently became one of two presenters on the first ever Irish Sign Language
weather forecast on Irish television, broadcast weekly on RTE.

Caroline is also one of the new faces of RTE’s Signed
News, and is a regular presenter on the magazine series

‘Hands On’.

‘Hands On’ is a series for the deaf and hard of
hearing community, broadcast on Sundays on RTÃ? One and produced by independent
company Mind the Gap Films.

It presents a range of items on services, access,
education and health, as well as deaf sport, news and culture, with some fun
thrown in, in the form of challenges, makeovers and competitions.

All of the presenters are deaf, and programmes are
presented in Irish Sign Language and it is produced by a majority deaf
production team.

Its 16th series began broadcasting on November 13 and
featured a behind the scenes look at RTÃ?’s Irish Sign Language weather forecast
in which we follow Caroline Worthington.

We follow her through make-up and wardrobe, translating
her script from English to Irish Sign Language, practising and learning her
script, all within only a couple hours of recording.

We get a unique insight into the difficulties of
ensuring appropriate signs are used, the occasional need to create new signs,
and how she and fellow presenter Sarah-Jane Moloney have taught the RTÃ? weather
team some Irish Sign Language to help with timing, picture changes and autocue.

Caroline has also been a regular presenter on

‘Hands
On’ since starting in 2001. She was born and reared in Dublin, and educated in
St Mary’s School for Deaf Girls.

Having graduated from UCD with an Arts degree in
English and History, Caroline now holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Education.
She is currently working as a Remedial Reading and Numeracy teacher in Marian
School for Deaf Girls, Cabra.