Hello gorgeous people!
This week I am going to be releasing 3 videos that are all about deafness
Links to the other two will be down in the description as soon as they are out
You might remember that last year I did something pretty similar for International Week of the Deaf
This year is a little different because along with this video there will be another one that is instructional
and one that is a comedy sketch because I like to try new things.
I wanted to use this video to talk about British Sign Language or BSL and my relationship with it
I should tell you that although the signs that I use are from BSL I actually sign SSE
Which is Sign Supported English
As I was raised hearing
I was hearing!
I started to loose my hearing when I was 15
And by about 18 I just couldn't hear much of anything
The next year I was given hearing aids for the first time and now I am 29
Wow, so old!
My hearing loss is relatively stable at this point, sometimes it does get worst
In certain busy situations or if I have a cold or...
On a plane
Currently with my hearing aids in I can her
Uh, just really squalled
Currently with my hearing aids in I can hear every third word
And then every second word I kind of understand and then I just make it up
When I say hear I also mean not perfectly, it's very jumbled
I rely on lip reading and obviously: context
I know that in the future it will get worst
When I lost my hearing I was still in school and then in university
There were provisions in place to get me a Sign Language interpreter but nothing to help me learn Sign Language
No one thought that it was maybe important that I actually learned some sign language
*Oh but you can lip-read, you don't need sign*
And that is why I use SSE, because I had to learn sign language from books
To be quite honest I was terrified to reach out to other deaf people, at the time I thought I was
the only one who'd gone deaf, I wasn't aware that there were other people like me out there
I believed that everyone was born deaf even though it clearly wasn't what happened to me
I used Sign Language a lot for school and university and it really helped me
Now Sign Language it isn't part of my daily day life, I don't have anyone around me who is deaf
I'm really good at lip reading and it's easier for other people to just rely on me
Obviously I don't sign to them because they can hear my voice
And they don't sign to me because it's hard and they feel awkward
And I'm just really lazy with my Sign Language now
But when I think about the future and going deafer and people in my life not being able to sign
I get this horrible not in my chest
I am terrified of being in a bubble unable to communicate with everyone of the people that I love
Which is why I'm using this week as a Call to Action
I am going to force the people in my life to sign to me, I am refusing to wear my hearing aids
That's really nice!
So now you have to put in the effort to communicate with me, sorry if I'm seeing you tomorrow
and you are only finding this out now through this video
And sorry to everyone that I'm going on holiday with on Thursday, we are going to the Lake District
There will be a lot of sign language for them
I have a nephew, he is 5 months old
He is so cute, chubby and delightful
I am determined that he and my future children will know sign language
My children won't have the genetic disability that has made me go deaf
But I want them to be able to communicate not only with me but also with all of the 100s of 1000s of deaf people
In this country and around the world
It's important that we share our stories and help others not to feel so alone.
It's also important that we recognise how vital it is to have BSL on the school curriculum
Not only so that deaf children can feel like they are included but also so those of us who
later in life go deaf still have a way to communicate.
Which by the way have you seen how many old people wear hearing aids? Tthat's probably gonna be you too!
And you'll still right now have a way to chat to your friends in the pub
When it's really noisy and that's great
This is a win win al around!
So please make some noise!
Share your sign language story
Tell your MP: include Sign Language in the school curriculum
Thank you for watching this video
I hope that you've enjoyed it and that you would like to see more.
If so just go down there, have a look at my channel and subscribe!
See you next time!