12 Jun
I don’t really watch programmes online apart from ones on iPlayer with subtitles, but I came across this video on Facebook. It is called my Song and is about a woman, who is totally deaf, struggles to communicate in the hearing world, and comes across the Deaf World, go and see what happens here.
http://www.bslbt.co.uk/programmes/my-song/
31 May
Tina Lannin posted this on her blog
Take a look over here
http://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/nice-update-on-guidance-for-cochlear-implants-in-uk/
25 May
Here I want to mention my very good friend Paul, although we have yet to meet in person, Paul was diagnosed as deaf @ 5 weeks old and has been waiting years to finally have his CI operation done. He gets his N5 activated tomorrow!!
I wish him the very best of luck and a speedy journey into the world of sound!!
21 May
Another Guest Post from Matthew, this will be his final one for now, he has a lot of stuff on.
I’ve had a couple of interesting “Deaf” experiences that I wanted to share with you today, in an art gallery and the Science Museum respectively – and it’s not often you’ll hear those two in the same sentence!
The gallery is a brand spanking new site in Newtown, near to where I work, so decided to pop down on its opening day to see what all the fuss was about. I went with a fellow BSL learner, so we used the walk down to practice some signing.
As it turned out, there was a queue to get it, so we continued signing. Both of us are working hard to focus on signs rather than vocalising, but it didn’t occur to us that people would actually think we were deaf until a member of staff, who was going down explaining the entrance procedure, looking mildly panicked when she saw us signing and gave our tickets without trying to engage us in any conversation!
As we went round the gallery – and continued signing – we came across similar reactions from a couple of other staff as well, and this really surprised me. Some were more eager than others to engage, but some … well, their lack of willingness to even try was breathtaking.
My friend and I were left shocked by this attitude, and made us appreciate, if only for that brief moment, the lack of awareness Deaf people must experience; I’ve not gone back to the gallery since, but sorely want to tell them of my brief – and unintentional – experience. I’d be interested to know what readers of Hearing Times think?
The Science Museum, on the other hand, was a genuine surprise. I’d gone up there with a group of friends and quickly saw the differences; the video displays had BSL interpreters on the screens, the signage was concise and to the point, and all the staff seemed far more approachable; even if they didn’t sign, the “friendliness factor” was still very noticeable – and after I spoke to a member of staff, found out that they do have interpreters onsite and have regular tours with BSL-trained staff. Awesome!
For there to be such differences between two large organisations was quite surprising; naively, I hadn’t given it much thought, but had hoped that there’d be a degree of accessibility to everyone – and while an art gallery is a very visual experience, interaction between staff and visitors is essential, as proved by the Science Museum. I urge everyone to support it whenever they can, as it would be well deserved – and maybe we need to start nagging places to become more Deaf Aware!
8 May
Today is the last day of Deaf Awareness Week and I want to share a video with you. It was sent by a friend on facebook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8CCZJ_dwdI&feature=share
Also why I am supporting Deaf Awareness Week
I was diagnosed in December 1990 with severe-profound hearing loss I am now profoundly deaf. I was born into a family who knew NOTHING about deafness and deaf children. I have had my implant for 10 1/2 years and before that, bilateral hearing aids. I was put into a school for the deaf who met my needs very well. One of the things I like about being deaf is, that I can retreat into my totally silent world whenever I want to in two seconds , and it is nice for sleeping. Although deafness is a struggle at times, there can be some bonuses, like getting my implant, meeting new people and making sure that people kinda of understand what we’re going through.
8 May
I was discussing this recently with some friends, and it’s interesting to see how sign languages develop wholly independently of geography. Whilst the US and UK share a common oral language, their sign languages are very different; ASL has a one-handed alphabet, whereas BSL uses both hands. BSL has more in common with Australian, New Zealand and Sri Lankan sign language, and ASL can trace its history back to French.
It took me a while to get my head round this concept, until I realised that I was putting a hearing slant onto a concept that didn’t need it. Sign and hearing languages don’t rely on each other for their growth, so naturally they will go off in different directions and not necessarily share the same boundaries.
What’s brilliant to discover are the differences in regional BSL. When I went to the Margate Deaf pub last month, I came across three different signs for the organisation I work for, all of which were recognised – if not used – by most people I met that night. That’s three signs for one thing in one pub from people who came from London, Medway and Margate respectively. There’s some serious dialects going on in BSL!
In my class, Paul usually teaches us the variations as and when he thinks we might come across them. We actually spent a very entertaining hour going through the different dialects that you might come across when describing rooms in the house, and it was amazing to consider that there were so many varieties; most of which were recognisable as a variant of the one we knew, but others were a truely “northern” or “southern” turn of phrase that was totally confusing!
I think that lesson, more than any in a while, made me appreciate how far I’ve got to go. I need to be able to recognise a lot of different regional variations, or at least be able to confidently recognise fingerspelling so that I can ensure I’m communicating effectively.
I feel a headache coming on … I just came across a website with a lot of sign variations. I shouldn’t have looked. I now can’t remember my local sign for bath. Oh well, at least the swear word I’m thinking of right now is fairly universal!
1 May
I did a quick Q&A for Matthew Munson who has been doing guest posts here on this blog
Here’s the answers
http://vikingbay.blogspot.com/2011/05/deafness-batteries-and-cochlear-implant.html
30 Apr
Here’s another post from Matthew Munson who is our guest poster for as long as he wants. I have found that he is a great writer and thought I should give him a chance to show himself!!
Cast your mind back now, dear reader, to when you were first learning French or German or whatever at school. After mastering the basics (hello, goodbye and that hydrangea needs moving slightly to the left), what were the words that every child wanted to learn?
Yes to anyone who said swear words, although I can’t imagine anything else being suggested! Most school children (okay, let’s be honest, most school boys) seek out the swear words as quickly as they can and then using them at every available opportunity. Well, you’ll be (un)surprised to learn that I did exactly the same thing with British Sign Language swear words soon after starting the course.
My mother will be so proud.
Of course, Paul – our teacher – didn’t teach us them, as any good and decent teacher wouldn’t. I won’t tell you where I got them from, but the reason I wanted to learn them was because I was already conscious of making mistakes; when I made what I thought was the sign for medicine, Paul looked horrified before explaining that I had offered him a service, in front of my entire class, that is usually reserved for a more private setting.
Hence, I decided to consult YouTube for advice, so I could avoid that sort of mistake again. Oh dear, have I just released the website name? Oh dear, what a shame.
Well, I spent a very productive half an hour, which was actually very fortuitous, because in the following lesson, we touched on something not entirely unrelated. It’s a subject that is talked about a lot in the hearing world too – words that can offend some people but not others.
We see this all around us, although some groups of people respond by reclaiming the words and begin using them as positive words to describe themselves; just off the top of my head, I can think of half a dozen or so. I don’t know about you, but I still find myself acting cautiously around certain words, just in case I end up offending someone by its use.
BSL, it seems, is the same. We ended up talking about it in some depth with Paul, who is deaf himself, and were comparing his opinions with those of his friends and other deaf people that my classmates knew. There seemed to be some people within the deaf community who are very sensitive over certain signs no longer being used for different groups. A couple of them I can understand – a Hitler-style moustache for Germany, for example. I think we can all agree that is something we should leave where it lays – in the ashes of World War II. The current sign for Germany, I should add, is far more neutral.
There are others, however, that are not based in any racist or derogatory fervour. As Paul himself pointed out, it’s all to do with context. Signing is all about gesture, facial expression, intent and emotion – the same as with oral languages, just in different degrees. I certainly walked away from that lesson feeling a lot more confident about the use of language in a friendly and open way, knowing that – as long as I understand the context of a sign and allow my true intent and feelings to show through – I’ll be a lot more accepted than if I did the opposite.
Language is a tricky thing to master, but I suspect we all have different views on particular words or phrases that get under our skin. I think, however, we should remember that languages evolve over time, in the same way that people do, and that context to a word or sign can mean the difference between getting angry … and understanding. I know I’ll certainly be asking myself a lot more questions if I ever hear a word or see a sign that makes me wince; I’ll want to know why. Perhaps we should all challenge ourselves from time to time, to make sure the intent behind our words – as well as the words themselves – are transparent.
30 Apr
I have profound sensorineural hearing loss, diagnosed at 9 months of age with severe-profound deafness. Some audiologists and doctors say it’s congenital meaning it was present at birth but there is no way of knowing that, which does bug me. I do not have connexion 26 or 30. I have not been checked for EVAS/LVAS/Pendred’s because it requires a MRI. Some say it was ototoxic hearing loss. So as well being seriously ill, i could have been losing my hearing over 9 months.
But I was just wondering if there was any other tests or stuff they could do to find out? Maybe I should let it go, but it does drive me mad at times.
Yesterday Prince William of Wales got married to Catherine Middleton, the wedding was amazing, I only watched it on the tv but it was very interesting. There was so many people in the crowd, I especially loved Westminster Abbey, it looked fabulous and I can’t believed there was trees in the church itself!!
29 Apr
This week is Deaf Awareness Week, I don’t know if this week even makes a difference but I know some counties are doing deaf events, I know mine isn’t.
A LOT more awareness regarding deafness is so much needed. No matter how many deaf aware weeks we’ll have, there’ll always be a problem. I think Deafness should be a regular part of people’s lives, maybe have a regular programme on the tv regarding it or something. It should be one of the options at GCSE, at all colleges, the ability to do all levels for the SAME price as any other language.
Here’s some British Links and the BSL alphabet.
http://www.deafnessresearch.org.uk/
