It’s been a very long time since I last blogged about BSL, so let me first apologise for my absence. The last six months have been pretty hectic, but as Deaf Awareness Week draws to a close I thought an update was in order.
I learned of Deaf Awareness Week via Twitter. I follow @DeafStuffUK (also known as Green Onion) and their tweets this week informed me of various celebrities backing the campaign to raise awareness for the d/Deaf communities in the UK as well as highlighting news articles, theatre performances and signed/captioned television programmes.
For me, Twitter is a fantastic way to become a part of the deaf community, whether that’s local, or nationally. I follow a few accounts that solely tweet about BSL and other deaf related articles, for example @RNID, as well as individuals who tweet their day to day life and the occasional BSL tweet inbetween. I definitely fall into the second category.
So, with it being Deaf Awareness Week, and also Barcamp Blackpool 2, I decided to combine two of my favourite things and do my BSL talk at Barcamp (again!).
This session would be the 4th time I’ve presented BSL at a Barcamp, which as I’ve explained before on the blog is a technical un-conference and every time I’ve presented, I’ve had a fantastic and receptive audience.
For me, bringing BSL to Barcamp is about exposing a group of people to something they might not find elsewhere and so far the feedback has been positive.
For this session I went with the basics and we did the alphabet, how to introduce yourself, compliments, work, where you live, pets/animals and hobbies. I was pleased to see a mix of people, many who haven’t already seen my talk and a few that have. It was also interesting to have a friend who signs in the audience for my talk, to be able to check signs and refer to her for the answer to any questions I was unsure of.
I received a fantastic tweet today from the father of an 11 year old boy who attended my talk, telling me that his son signed to him on the train home from Barcamp as it was so loud. That tweet made me smile from ear to ear, as that’s exactly what Deaf Awareness Week is about and for me, what Barcamp is about too. Taking a subject you’re passionate about, and sharing that passion with others.
I think my BSL talk is going into retirement for the moment, until I begin my Level 2 qualification towards the end of this year at least, but I’m sure that once I’ve learned some new signs, I’ll be back out there teaching you how to sign them too.
Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of posts this year, however 2010 hasn’t quite gone as planned.
My BSL level two qualification started in January, however I had to make the decision whether or not to start the course when I had other family commitments that required my full attention. Having spoken to my BSL Tutor, I have decided to postpone the course until I can concentrate fully on it.
I hear via a friend on Twitter that level two is significantly more challenging and therefore I am glad I took the time out, rather than give it a half-hearted attempt.
However, this doesn’t mean I won’t still be involved in the community, I will still be attending my local Deaf Club as and when I can, and will try my hardest to continue to keep this blog up until I return to level two, which I hope will be sometime this summer.
As this is the first blog of 2010, I’d like to wish you all a happy new year!
I returned last week from my holiday to Goa to the sub zero temperatures and snow in the UK. Quite a shock to the system. However more shocking than that was my experience with Sign Language in India.
I was not expecting to see many people signing, as a huge portion of the population are illiterate and do not attend school, especially not children with disabilities.
However, I first encountered sign language on the plane from Heathrow to Mumbai. My friend and I flew with Air India, who conducted the safety briefing in the normal fashion, and then played a signed film, subtitled in both English and Hindi explaining the safety procedures.
I can’t be sure which Sign Language they were using, I can only assume Indian Sign Language, as it looked similar to neither ASL or BSL.
I was really impressed with seeing so many people catered for on the plane, and I asked a flight attendant if there was someone on board who could sign. She replied that there was someone there who could sign BSL and ISL, but they don’t always have people on board, just specific flights.
I asked if they advertised this as a service to their customers, but she didn’t know. I think this is exactly the kind of information that should be advertised by airlines, if they run for example one or two flights a week with attendants who can sign, it would be great for the Deaf community to have this information.
I can only imagine what flying would be like if you were faced with the fact that you may not be able to communicate with the staff on board.
I was also pleased to see that at Mumbai airport, there were signs on the walls that showed they had a hearing loop and a sign interpreter available at the Airport Information desk.
I have to say that I didn’t see anyone actually using sign language when I was away, but it was great to see that it was advertised.
I had a fantastic time in Goa over Christmas and New Year and I hope you all had a great festive season too.
I know that religion is a sensitive subject to some, and I’m not trying to peddle religion onto anyone reading this, but I do find this project particularly interesting.
I first experienced sign language at my parish church where I tried to copy along during mass, much to my Dad’s embarrasment!
Church sign is something I’d really like to get involved in, unfortunately there aren’t many catcholic churches near where I live that include BSL in their service, and I’m not experienced enough to offer.
There’s something very emotive about church sign that really attracts me and I think this is a really great project that I’d like to get involved with in the future.
You can find out more about the project, which is also a registered charity (Registered Charity Number: 1119990) at:
So I went along on Friday night to the Devonshire Arms in Bispham for the last Deaf Club of 2009. I wasn’t very active on the night and spent most of my time watching rather than engaging in conversations, as I felt a little bit rusty, but did manage to follow most of the conversations going on around me, which I was pleased about.
I was however a bit disappointed to find out that there won’t be another Deaf Club until the new year now ~8th Jan 2010, so I’ll be going for 7-8 weeks with no signing!
I’m starting to get a little bit apprehensive that when I get back into my lessons in the new year all my signs will be a bit shabby, so I’ll have to try and keep practising regularly, even if it is a little embarrassing to do on your own.
Most of the people who attended this weeks Deaf Club I have met before and they are mostly more advanced learners than me, at level 2 or level 3. I’m hoping that in the new year we will be able to encourage more new learners to come along and be a part of the community.
One of the conversation I did have that night was with Jan, my teacher from level one, asking if I would consider teaching some foundation classes in the new year. For the foundation level you don’t actually need to have a teaching qualification and I could go as far as to teach the first section (101) of level one without any teaching certificates.
I’m not sure how I feel about the offer at the moment, I’m losing a little confidence in my signing ability having hardly used it since my lessons finished in September. Hopefully once I get back into the swing of things I will be able to make a decision on the teaching, but any of your thoughts/comments on it would be greatly appreciated!
Found out yesterday that my level two BSL classes will be postponed until the new year ~14th Jan so people can get Christmas out of the way before we start.
It’s actually worked out pretty well for me, even though I miss my classes and the time to practice, it gives me the chance to concentrate on some of my college assignments and to get some more content on here!
I’ll still be regularly attending Deaf Club until my lessons start up again. So if you are interested in coming along to find out a bit more about BSL you can search for the “Fylde Coast BSL Centre” page on Facebook or visit their website.
The next meeting will be this Friday 13th November from approx. 8pm and will include a pub quiz. Directions can be found on the pub’s website.
So this weekend I attended Barcamp Manchester 2, which was held at Contact Theatre Manchester.
The event was fantastic, as ever and I once again delivered my talk “An introduction to BSL”, however due to the scale of the event, it clashed with some other great talks and throughout the rest of the day people kept saying “I really wanted to come to your session but it clashed with something else”.
The talk took a very similar format to the one delivered at Barcamp Blackpool and even had a couple of the same audience members, however this time with the addition of a few more words than before and a lot more confidence from me. Despite a hiccup with the projector!
The main thing that I took away from this Barcamp though was actually to do with the venue.
Contact Manchester is a fantastic space for people from the community to come together, with workshops from performing arts and dance to beatboxing and break dancing. I noticed around the venue, posters for signed performances, and I got the chance to talk briefly with the director who told me that they were trying to get more performances signed at the theatre.
Signed theatre is something I am yet to experience and I hope that I will be able to attend one of the shows Contact will be putting on over the coming months. I think it is very important that theatre is made as accessible as possible and signed showings go a long way towards encouraging that.
The next signed performance at Contact will be Blackberry Trout Face by Laurence Wilson on Thursday 26th November. Check out this link for more information.
I’m hoping I will be able to attend and it would be great if others, whether you are learning BSL or not could go too. Not only to raise the profile of signed performances but also of this fantastic venue and their staff who made Barcamp Manchester 2 another brilliant event!
Another phone call from the lovely lady at the Fylde Coast BSL Centre to let me know my 103 results arrived today and I passed, with 29/40 which is apparently quite good. So once again very pleased and proud of myself as I have now completed my first BSL qualification!
Have been having somewhat of a wobbly week this week too, so it’s good to get some good news and encouragement!
Starting my Level Two qualification on Thursday 12th, so will try and get some more posts up between now and then. Oh and a picture of me with my snazzy certificate at some point!