What it’s really like to be deaf in a world that doesn’t listen | UK News

CITY LIT’S ‘DEAF DAY’

On April 26th, I visit City Lit’s ‘Deaf Day’.  The adult education college in Holborn has a Centre for Deaf Education, and every year it sets up a day of celebration for the deaf community, with workshops, taster sessions and an array of exhibitors. 

And thousands of people – hearing and deaf – come from all over the UK for it. 

The 15 rooms dedicated to the event, including a large theatre, are crammed with people of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities.  

I’m not surprised. There’s over 70 exhibitors here, including deaf charities, schools, and universities. The Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and British Museum all have stalls. There’s even mono-printing and yoga workshops.  

Within the first few minutes I bump into Amy, who has come down from Northamptonshire for the event. As I greet her, I notice the amount of hugs and greetings happening all around me. The deaf world is a small world, but that’s also partly because of how open people are to connecting with each other. 

As well as networking, the day is an opportunity for deaf people to be aware of “what services are available to them, what training opportunities there are”, says Mark Hopkinson, Head of Centre for Deaf Education at City Lit. There’s a stall about calling 999 in BSL, for example, as well as a Q&A from the Electoral Commission on how to vote in national and local elections. 

But most of all, the event celebrates the deaf culture and community. As you enter the building, colourful posters demanding deaf people’s rights hang from the ceiling as part of an exhibition on the history of BSL. 

“Deaf people were removed from the history books, when, in 1880, a decision was made by hearing people to ban sign language from education,” deaf historian and City Lit BSL tutor Peter R Brown, who curated the exhibition, tells me. 

“I have researched and tried to get as much information as possible so British deaf history can be returned to the history books.”

It’s here that I meet my two younger sisters, Natasha and Alexia, who are 26-year-old twins. They were born deaf and have worn cochlear implants since they were three years old. 

Straddling both hearing and deaf worlds has not been easy for them, but it’s amazing to watch them now weaving through the crowds, confidently signing away with different people. 

Alexia, who is a BSL teacher volunteering at the event, explains why the day is so important: “For many years deaf people have encountered barriers. Now they can come together, they can use BSL freely, they can be relaxed with all those barriers removed.”

This is the first time Natasha, who is an artist, has come to Deaf Day. She is in awe of the event. 

“Wow, it’s really amazing to see so many deaf people coming here. And it’s beautiful to see everybody signing,” she says.

It’s frustrating to think how much harder they, and every other deaf person, has had to work in their everyday lives just to keep up with the hearing world. 

Deafness is sometimes mis-characterised as a learning disability – but it’s not at all. Sometimes, in spoken conversations with others, I have turned to my sisters and asked: “Do you understand?”

They have borne it graciously in the moment, but later corrected me: “Don’t say ‘do you understand?’, but instead ‘can you hear?'”

It’s not about understanding, but accessing the information in the first place. As Amy puts it: “The only thing different about me is my ears are broken, that’s it.”

If this has taught me anything, it’s the importance of communication, and how humans will fight whatever barriers have been put in front of them to connect. But why make it so exhausting for deaf people? 

My next step is to learn British Sign Language properly – joining my hearing parents, sister and brother, who have all been learning it in the past few months.  

It’s been a journey, with frustrating moments and a lot of laughter, too. 

But it’s definitely worth it.