Campaigner for deaf dies at 31 after lung transplant. - Free Online Library
Byline: David Powell
A LEADING North Wales campaigner for deaf people has died at the age of 31.
Conwy Deaf Society fundraiser Isabelle Foulkes, from Colwyn Bay, suffered from cystic fibrosis.
Her deafness was caused by drugs taken for the condition as a baby.
She had a double lung transplant but her body rejected the new organs and she lost her fight for life on October 31.
It was seven years to the day since she and her husband Gareth met at Manchester Deaf Club.
Hallowe'en was always a special day to the devoted couple.
In June, 2000, Isabelle and Gareth joined thousands of demonstrators in London to demand that British Sign Language (BSL) get due recognition.
At the time she said: "In Wales, it is the third most common language yet it is not officially recognised. It would be an important step towards access and equality in the lives of British deaf people today."
Deaf people cannot serve as jurors, for example, because judges won't allow signers into deliberation rooms.
Yesterday, her husband Gareth Foulkes, 34, of St Paul's Close, Colwyn Bay, said: "She was very inspirational. She had 12 good months after the transplant operation in August, 1999, and even joined Rhos-on-Sea Tennis Club."
She worked for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People as a professional fundraiser but had to leave due to her illness. Mr Foulkes said: "Her breathing became shallow and she went peacefully in her sleep here at home with me and her mum beside her."
For her final six months, Isabelle had become weaker and used a wheelchair to go long distances.
Mr Foulkes said: "She felt strongly about improved access for wheelchairs."
In her remarkable life, his artistically-gifted wife designed Christmas cards and duvet covers and also shower curtains for Bloomingdales in New York.
Mr Foulkes is also deaf and yesterday he was wearing a blue hearing aid. Isabelle wanted hearing aids to be colourful.
He asked: "Glasses are all different colours so why should we hide hearing aids away? Why should we be embarrassed?"
Mr Foulkes added: "Deaf sign language users see themselves as a linguistic community, like Welsh speakers, and not as a disabled group."
Mr Foulkes's "hearing dog", Hiro, is one of 667 such animals from the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, founded in 1982.
Hiro is trained to respond to the alarm clock, cooker timer, telephone bell, door bell and smoke alarm.
He was picked up as a stray in Bristol before embarking on his new life.
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