Translator: Rhonda Jacobs Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
Gosh, I realized no one could understand me, then,
so I've brought Omoyele Thomas on who's going to be voicing over for me
just so you all have access.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Hello everyone. I'll go back to the start.
My name is Rebekah, and my sign name is R Speed
because I run really, really fast.
(Laughter)
(Audience) Aww.
I'm deaf, and usually I don't understand hearing people,
but today, you're all able to understand me
through our interpreter that we have with us today.
The world was created for hearing people,
but all my life, I've grown up deaf, so I've never known what sound is like.
My world is completely silent.
And I'd like to invite all of you here today
to come into my world so I can share a few deaf issues with you.
I want to share issues that I've faced
and barriers I've faced through my childhood.
And it's not just me, it's all deaf people who face these barriers.
I wanted to ask you, as the hearing audience here,
to help me break down, smash those barriers.
I'm going to tell you about my story,
and just bear in mind that every deaf person's story will be different.
I want to ask a question.
What do you think about deaf babies?
How many do you think are born to deaf or hearing parents?
Do you think it's mostly to deaf or mostly to hearing?
Well, as you can see from the slide behind,
it's 90 percent of deaf babies are actually born to hearing parents,
who have no clue about deaf issues and no communication methods.
So I am actually one of that 90 percent.
My parents are hearing,
and they knew absolutely nothing about deaf issues before I came along.
My mum actually told me that when I was born, she thought I was hearing.
But later on when I was about six months old,
she noticed something wasn't quite right,
so she decided then to take me for a hearing test.
They assessed me, and they found that I was moderately deaf.
My parents felt quite worried.
And that was a normal reaction;
a lot of hearing parents feel worried when they find out they have a deaf child.
Later on, when I was about two and a half, I had to go for another test,
and it was confirmed that I was profoundly deaf.
The test proved that I lacked any auditory nerves within my ears,
so I have no access to sound.
So hearing devices won't offer any benefit to me.
Like I said earlier, my world is beautifully silent.
My parents were obviously worried and scared,
but they are wonderful,
and they have helped me through my life break down so many barriers.
The first barrier is communication, and that's the main one.
My parents used gesture as a starting point
because I couldn't hear.
My parents decided that they would learn sign language.
They decided to learn the basics to start with, such as drink, food,
and with toys, they would point at them.
But unfortunately, as you can imagine, that wasn't enough vocabulary
to aid in my development
and to aid me in reaching my full potential.
They decided to go to BSL classes at that point.
Unfortunately, at that time, and still now,
parents go on courses, but they're not subsidized.
They had to pay full price to attend courses to communicate with me.
Before I carry on, I want to tell you a little bit about BSL.
BSL stands for British Sign Language,
and it was recognized in 2003 within the UK by the government.
The language is a wonderful, rich language.
It's beautiful.
I'm going to give you a bit of a comparison
between BSL and English, and the difference within the structures.
If there was a sentence that you would write in English,
such as 'What is your name?'
in BSL, it would be translated as 'Your name, what?'
And you can see that's a big difference.
Another example would be a sentence 'What is the weather like in Scotland?'
In BSL, it would be 'Scotland, weather like, what?'
And you can see again that difference.
Remember, if you're communicating with a deaf person by pen and paper,
and they're writing in English,
remember, English is their second language,
BSL is their first, and it's a different structure.
One more thing:
When my presentation finishes, in case you need to know,
this is how we clap in BSL; we raise our hands.
There are over 50,000 people that use BSL as their preferred language.
My parents, as I said, went to BSL classes,
but they had to pay full price for them, which proved very expensive,
and I often think about parents
that maybe can't afford to attend these classes,
and how they can communicate with their child,
and what the effect would be.
I feel they would suffer greatly without that connection.
There would be delays in their language acquisition
and delays overall.
They would lack confidence.
They would be quite isolated, even within the family home,
and this could later lead to mental health [issues].
How we could solve that problem? It's quite easy!
BSL classes should be provided to all hearing parents of deaf children
free of charge.
The second barrier that my parents faced as I was growing up
was finding the right school.
To ask you, parents in the room,
obviously, you want your children to have a good education,
you want to prepare them for the adult world, right?
My parents wanted the same for me.
They wanted me to access everything that I possibly could
to enable me to be ready for the world.
Going back 50 years ago,
there were quite a few deaf schools nationwide; there were 73 in total.
That number has dwindled greatly,
and there are only 23 deaf schools in the whole of the UK.
There are, all in all,
about over 45,000 deaf children in the UK,
so can you imagine trying to fit that amount of children
into 23 schools nationwide.
It's an impossible task.
My parents, at the time, had three different options for me.
One was for me to attend a deaf unit attached to a mainsteam school;
one was for me to attend a deaf school, where all children and adults signed;
and the other was to attend a mainstream school,
mixing with hearing peers.
I, throughout my life, have experienced all three.
I've had some good experiences
and some that could do with some improvement.
I went to a primary school specifically for deaf children,
and it was amazing.
Everyone communicated in that visual language.
Seventy-eight percent of deaf children now attend mainstream school,
so they don't have that same experience that I did.
They would face barriers along the way;
they would face struggles along the way within mainstream schools.
I attended a college, actually, a mainstream college.
And I had a dream at that time: I wanted to be a deaf filmmaker.
I still do.
I want to involve deaf and hearing actors as well,
to integrate together.
I attended a boarding school for deaf children.
And in the daytime, I attended a mainstream college.
It was for my media course; it was a hard course,
and I had support from a CSW, a communication support worker,
who was responsible for voicing over and translating into BSL for me.
The barriers I experienced were the jargon within the lectures -
they proved quite problematic
as I needed extra time to digest this new language.
We also watched a lot of films; as you know, it was a media course.
But the lecturer didn't ensure they had subtitles.
And the lecturer would also speak really fast
and walk around the whole class at the same time,
which was really helpful.
I wasn't able to access half of the information.
So I was quite behind.
Trying to communicate with my hearing peers also proved quite difficult,
so I was quite isolated in college.
It was really difficult to communicate with them,
but we could have written things down,
we could have used mobile phones to communicate.
And there are several solutions.
I would have liked one to one -
so I think in future, they should offer that,
one to one with a tutor, so that I'm able to digest that jargon;
ensure all films have subtitles;
and then also to email the information, maybe a week before,
so that I can read that information as well as my CSW
to prepare us for the lecture.
I also think that deaf schools should link in with mainstream schools
and offer deaf awareness and basic BSL classes.
So it means that my experience would be greatly improved.
And I'm hoping that will happen
to ensure that future experiences of future college students who are deaf
will be improved.
I think it would benefit not just the student
but everyone within the college.
After college, I kind of thought about what I wanted to do next.
I could have gone down the volunteering route,
university route and so on.
But I knew I was going to experience barriers along the way.
I decided I want to volunteer; I wanted to get more experience.
And one day I was walking in my local town with my mum,
and I saw a charity shop window with a poster in it.
It was asking for volunteers, and I thought, great, what an opportunity.
I approached the man within the shop,
and my mum voiced over for me while I signed,
and I said, 'I'm deaf, but I'd like to apply for this job.'
And he responded, 'How will I communicate with you?'
And I explained simple ways or methods that we could use.
And he said, 'Oh, that's a bit of a long-winded way to communicate.'
I was hurt, really hurt, but there's no way I was giving up.
I know that in future, every time I try to look for opportunities,
I'm going to experience this barrier,
and I'm prepared for that; I'm prepared to fight.
Remember, as deaf community, we have skills that we can offer.
We have a wealth of experience;
we have dreams, same as everybody else,
and we just want equality and access to achieve those.
Discrimination is illegal.
The law needs to become more robust,
to address issues where discrimination occurs.
We need to break down those barriers.
I've faced barriers through my life
within education, employment and so on, but those are just a few examples.
It could be doctors, hospitals, dentists.
And this is not just me,
it's every deaf person that experiences these barriers.
So in conclusion,
I hope that I've given you a little bit of an understanding about me,
and you've been able to understand everything I've said
through the interpreter.
That's a simple right that many, many people are not provided with.
Looking back to the 18th, 19th, 20th century,
how many groups have faced barriers and challenges along the way?
We've had black people fight for their rights;
women's groups fight for their rights.
It's the 21st century, equality should be there.
I have a dream.
I want deaf and hearing people to be seen as equal.
I want access to be provided as standard.
And we need your help; we need your help to solve that problem.
Smash down those barriers with me.
Thank you so much for watching.
(Applause)