Learning sign language is something basically everyone I have ever met says they want to do. Learning a few signs is fun and memorable. Some people I bump into remind me of the signs that I taught them yonks ago. You know, the cute ones like turtle or snail. There is something about the visual language that people just love.
When it comes to the crunch though, becoming proficient at sign language is hard work and takes plenty of practice. There’s a lot more to it than learning that sign for bulls%*t that everybody seems to already know. Figuring out which hand the horns are .. is just the beginning.
Hats off to the many who do make the grade to level one or two; but time without using sign language will consign that knowledge to the dark and dusty corners of the mind. Some are now barely only able to name a snail or a turtle. They’re only just able to explain that they arrived by car, it took 5 minutes and it was, err, um … what’s the sign for sunny? It gets awkward after that.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. The best way to keep using sign language is to go along to your local deaf club where the deaf community will happily chat and facilitate your development. Visiting your local deaf club is an excellent way to study or practice sign language long after the certificate is hung on the toilet wall.
Or maybe, actually, it isn’t.
When I was a kid, I visited deaf clubs almost every week. We went to March, Peterborough, Cambridge and Spalding. My parent’s quadrangle of quality, err, quonversation. I even went to Slough deaf club for an indoor games tournament and to Guildford on the way back from a day trip to France. I still go to Peterborough deaf club when I can. Janet and Simon, who help run it, are good people.
Contrary to my experience though, some hearing or oral deaf people have said to me that they haven’t found deaf clubs to be such a pleasant place to visit. They claimed that they were ignored or felt excluded. ‘Really?’ I said. I wondered if it could be true, so I gave it a little thought.
For many people who use BSL, deaf club is the only time in the week or month to have a decent conversation with friends. No barriers to communication exist there. It’s a signer’s sanctuary. While hearing neighbours can chat across the fence or in the street whenever they want, some deaf brethren have to wait days or weeks until deaf club opens to do the same. Days or weeks to experience that simple pleasure; the joy of flowing conversation.
Should deaf people have to sacrifice that precious time in order to once again take it v e r y s l o w l y with the latest sign language student? ‘Oh, you arrived by car … and it took 5 minutes … Well done!’
But what if the BSL learner is also deaf? What about people who were born deaf and didn’t learn sign language as they grew up? Or people who are deaf now but were hearing before. Does that change things? After all, where is the ‘I Used To Be Hearing But Now I’m Deaf Club’ in Slough or Guildford? How are more people going to master sign language unless the people who use it, make the newbies feel at home?
So the question for you, the reader, is this: Should learners respect the very reason that deaf club is there and take no offence if deaf people aren’t queuing up to c h a t? Or should deaf clubs do more to welcome sign language learners, hearing or deaf, with open arms? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
By Andy Palmer, The Limping Chicken’s Editor-at-Large.
Andy volunteers for the Peterborough and District Deaf Children’s Society on their website, deaf football coaching and other events as well as working for a hearing loss charity. Contact him on twitter @LC_AndyP (all views expressed are his own).
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Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
May 16, 2013
To draw a comparison … when you join a golf club, do they insist that you have at least Level One golf? No.
But you CAN go to the club professional for lessons. I think Deaf people are missing a trick here. What is wrong with a Deaf club that offers BSL classes?
I know a hearing person who is studying for Level Three. She has been doing it for about 8 years now, one lesson a week. When she signs to me, although it is clear it doesn’t look “natural”. She will never look like a native signer unless she goes and lives in the Deaf world for a few years. I am sure she is fairly typical of a hearing person wanting to learn to sign. She’s a care worker by the way, sign is sometimes needed.
I have suggested to hearing people that learning to sign is no different to any other language, Spanish or Italian. The best way is to immerse yourself in it. This is hard to do when Deaf clubs don’t want learners and there are no other signers for miles around. Is it any wonder that signing is declining?
So I think that the message some Deaf clubs send out is, we don’t want you… unless you have already done the near-impossible.
Editor
May 16, 2013
That’s a good point Andy, what if there was one designated ‘teacher’ or ‘helper’ whose job it was to talk to the learners?
The other thought in my mind is what if there was some kind of BSL Speed dating session where people got the chance to talk to different deaf people for very short periods of time? That might be less of a hassle for the deaf person, and give the hearing learner the chance to experience different signing styles.
Charlie, Editor
Lana
May 16, 2013
If set up Speed Dating session, some BSL Learners would waste time trying to read names in Fingerspelling – But I do like the idea of having a helper/designated teacher inside the Deaf Club encouraging better integration between these two worlds i For example fun games for a short time. Signamics and Remark! organize these events.
Liz Thomas
May 16, 2013
Hi, I am hearing myself. When I was on my Level 2 and NVQ3 courses we were always encouraged to attend the local Deaf Club. I used to do this because I am a hard-working type and committed to improving my signing. The Deaf Club members were friendly but I never felt comfortable there and eventually I stopped going. I felt that many Deaf people were struggling all week to get by in a hearing world and this was the one place they could truly relax and be themselves , without having to worry about trying to communicate with any of us ‘hearies’.
Last year I qualified as an interpreter and I now have many more friends and acquaintances in the Deaf community, but I still don’t attend the Deaf Club. I still feel that it’s Deaf people’s ‘space’ to meet with other Deaf people. What do others think?
Liz Thomas
John David Walker
May 16, 2013
I was one of those ‘oral deaf people’ who went to the Deaf club – I was actually welcomed with open arms and I really couldn’t sign to save my life. In fact, my first night was someone’s stag party, and I didn’t know it was one until I got there!
I didn’t follow a lot but I was also unsure if that kind of lifestyle was something I wanted to be part of (I was only 18 yo at the time). I started to get more involved through FYD as my BSL skills developed. FYD was a safe and inclusive stop-gap between ‘deaf oral life’ and ‘Deaf life’ – it is such a dreadful shame that kind of space doesn’t exist any more.
I put down my inclusion to the Deaf world to my attitude. I didn’t make demands from the Deaf club because I recognised it was their space, and not mine. I don’t have automatic entry because I have a hearing loss. My entry came with my ability to communicate with the club’s patrons. I also understood their have their own hierarchy. I remember going to the Glasgow Deaf club for the first time – the first thing you do is buy Murray Holmes a shot of whiskey – and you show respect.
Deaf clubs are not charities or organisations – they are private members clubs. It is the people that make up the club, it is not about services. So, one can’t go into the club on the first day and make demands. One needs to be culturally respectful.
I have had conversations with other ‘oral deaf people’ and they recounted their stories about their Deaf club experiences – they often come back with ‘I went once and didn’t like it’, ‘no-one spoke to me there’, ‘I couldn’t understand anyone’, ‘they signed too fast’,… I always end up feeling that they ‘didn’t really try’.
Mike Gulliver
May 16, 2013
I think John makes a good point – alongside the language, there’s also the culture.
I’m used to learning languages and struggling with establishing communication… but when I started signing, I found the culture of the Deaf club more impenetrable than the language.
But I was lucky – I found a regular pub meeting of signers outside of the Deaf club. The group was full of Deaf young people, and CODAs, and hearing BSL students, and oral deaf sign learners. It was accessible and the culture was much more familiar… It met regularly, was relaxed, and – fuelled by beer – it developed my language.
And, at the same time, regular ‘drop-ins’ from *real* Deaf community people meant that I also began to get contact with some of the more culturally Deaf people around.
I still wouldn’t fit into a Deaf club, and I wouldn’t try – it’s not my home, and I’d respect those whose home it is too much to want to disrupt *their* time by invading it – but the language gave me access to the margins of Deaf culture, and has allowed me to fit ‘alongside’ some sections of the Deaf community.
jayne
May 16, 2013
What a brilliant question and, strangely enough I was having the same sort of conversation with my other half last night. I’m a CODA (a label I’ve only recently learnt I possess). My dad is profoundly Deaf but was taught orally so myself and my siblings grew up with him speaking and lipreading. We learnt to sign by going to the Deaf clubs with dad and taking part in the old style sign classes. These were held in the deaf club in an informal setting whilst the social activities were going on around us. Even though we were only 12 0r 13 years old, we found learning sign easy and fun. The club members would enjoy chatting with us and teaching us lots of signs, especially the older members. Nowadays, BSL is taught in ‘classrooms’ usually nowhere near Deaf people apart from the tutor and is so expensive! My other half has just started level one and is really struggling along with the rest of the ‘class’ as signs are taught in a structured manor but out of context making it much harder to learn. I think formalising the teaching of BSL has killed people’s enthusiasm to learn which, in my view is counterproductive to the Deaf communities aim of easier community communication. Deaf people should welcome hearing people who want to learn BSl into their social settings like the old days -just think how much further on social, professional and formal integration would be if the same process was being used today. Most hearing people would love to be able to sign but the new system of formal and very expensive learning is making the Deaf people delivering the ‘lessons’ seem elitist.
Lana
May 16, 2013
Hi Jayne, I wonder what you wrote on your Census form? English or BSL as your 1st language? One CODA in my BSL class did not realise that her first language is not English but BSL – By the way, learning BSL is no more expensive than driving lessons. Good Luck to your other half learning our BSL.
jayne
May 16, 2013
Hi Lana, I put English as my first language as even now, outside the Deaf community my dad now in his 70’s still prefers to lipread. I only use BSL in th work environment. With regards to expense – it didn’t cost me more that £8,000 to learn to drive but that’s what it costs to get to level 6 BSL!!!
jackie benson
May 16, 2013
I agree with Jayne – A deaf Tutor and I (the hearing student) set up Walthamstow Deaf Club in East London in July 2004, making an absolute point from the beginning that the Club would be open and welcoming to both Deaf and Hearing BSL Students. Our idea was to be different from other Deaf Clubs where the Deaf members either resent the Hearing intrusion or just want to keep their Clubs to themselves. We believed that both Deaf and Hearing could and would benefit from learning the other’s language and culture. Although many older Deaf people no longer come to our Club, we have young Deaf people and members who visit regularly – attitudes have changed within the Deaf community over recent years and for the better. Although we stipulate that hearing members must have some knowledge of BSL before coming to the Club, we accept and welcome hearing Level 1 and 2 students – giving them a monthly workshop and asking our Deaf members to introduce themselves and the new person around. This does work. After all, that is what everyone campaigned for – the recognition of BSL and the greater use of the language. Yes, the courses are expensive, but Adult Education evening classes are means tested, plus there are plenty of free classes out there run by Deaf-led organisations who have received grants to teach the language.
Lana
May 16, 2013
I have two BSL Level One students attending your club and their confidence improves each time they come to the class. Big thanks to your Club team.
Lauren Harris
May 16, 2013
Really interesting to read all these different perspectives! I am hearing, currently studying BSL Level Two. I have attended the Deaf Club in Green Lanes a few times and have always found everyone there really friendly and welcoming. It is not realistic to expect to be greeted like everyone’s best friend after just a few visits. It would be the same if you joined a sports club or a choir – it takes time to get to know people and work out who you ‘click’ with. But I think I had a slight advantage in that my BSL was good enough to chat to people from the start. I think the problem comes when hearing people who have just started Level 1 come to Deaf club and struggle to do much more than spell their name. It’s similar to not speaking French and going for dinner with a bunch of French people – you will quickly feel out of your depth and will slow down the flow of conversation for everyone else. And that’s without taking into account the fact (as described above) that the Deaf club is often the ONLY place BSL users can chat in their own language. So my suggestion for Deaf Clubs would be to have a “Learners’ Night” once a month where those who are still beginners can come along and members of the club can volunteer to meet and look after the “interlopers”! It would be really nice to organise some of those informal learning activities Jayne mentioned, eg teaching fun vocabulary, telling stories, practising receptive skills with guessing games… I agree that the formal BSL courses offered by adult education colleges and private companies like Remark! are very expensive, but that’s because the government doesn’t subsidise them. It’s important to have a trained teacher (ideally a native BSL speaker) to teach BSL so that students are properly prepared for exams. But this should be combined with practice at Deaf clubs and pubs and other events within the Deaf community. I also echo Mike’s experience that Deaf pubs tend to have a wider mix of people and BSL levels, so they are probably the best place for beginners to practise their signing before they dive in the deep end and start attending a Deaf Club!
Smarty
May 16, 2013
In an age when Deaf people are far more likely arrange a meet-up with their friends via texting or Facebook instead of going to a Deaf club it has to be asked what the role is of a modern Deaf club? Many of the clubs are struggling to survive because they have not really asked themselves that question.
The Deaf community has always been pretty closed and outsiders are treated with suspicion (although there will be plenty of exceptions to this rule). This is perfectly understandable (other minority groups are the same) but it does mean the community is not growing. Many oral deaf and hearing learners do not feel that welcome and in the long term who suffers? – the Deaf community as it continues to shrink in size.
It seems sensible for Deaf clubs to organise evenings aimed at BSL learners to come along and meet some of its members and practice with each other. Some Deaf love meeting new people and will be happy to sign a bit slower for a couple of hours.
Kathleen Patricia Keefe
May 16, 2013
Hello, I’m hearing myself, but I want to expain that my husband was born parcially deaf in one ear and profoundly deaf in the other, he was taught orally, with no signing experience as a child. However, twenty four year’s ago he had a bad accident and fractured his skull in two places, which left him profoundly deaf. At the time of his accident I was seven months pregnant with our second daughter, and six months down the line he had a heart attack. His confidence grew less and we found ourselves living in a different world to what we had known before his accident. When my daughter was a little older, I decided to learn BSL at our local Deaf Club in Gillingham, Kent. I then proceeded to teach my husband what I had learnt. Over the years, Derek and I created our own kind of sign language mixed with the BSL Level 1 that I had learnt previously in a class, Derek had also developed a great skill in reading my lips. However, Derek has recently joined the Adult Education for BSL Level 1 classes, which I have been allowed to attend as his carer, because he still finds it difficult to understand all of the meanings to the signs that he is being taught in the class. He is also dyslexic, which only makes life more difficult as he can’t always spell or understand the word that is being finger spelt to him. Last week we were invited to join in at the Gillingham Deaf Club once again, where we have made friends with some lovely people, both Deaf and hearing. I think that life for Derek must be looking brighter, because he suddenly feels that he can participate in a conversation where there is more than one person speaking to him, and they take the time to help him understand. A good experience all round, and long may it continue.
Jill Medlock
May 16, 2013
Brilliant point to raise, Andy.
Being hearing and a bit rubbish at signing (despite having a BSL using son) I’ve often felt awkward at Deaf Clubs despite many lovely and well meaning Deaf people doing their best to persuade me that I’m not totally useless.
Yes – this is their chat time and space. I can have my chat time and space anytime I want. If no one’s around I can pick up a phone and bore another hearing person witless.
But, as you say, how are dimwits like me ever going to improve our signing? The idea of having a dedicated learners’ night once a month is great but what if your Deaf Club only meets once a month as many do now?
A great debate and I’m glad it’s out discussed on this website. I think this one will run and run…
Tim
May 16, 2013
The Question: Should deaf clubs be a social sanctuary or a learner’s study period?
There’s no reason why they can’t be both.
I think it’s important to support Deaf people who have survived the oppressive oral system and wish to learn BSL. A bad, erroneous decision was made for them and it often needs to be put right. ‘My Song’ was a pretty fabulous film as it was like a biography for many of us and a lesson for others.
Kelly
May 16, 2013
I don’t have anything very insightful to add, but I did want to say that I really enjoyed reading this article (not the least because it was funny!) and learned a lot. I have actually never heard of deaf clubs before! Perhaps this is solely a UK thing, as I am in the US? I don’t know, but I’ll have to look into it.
Liz Ward
May 16, 2013
This is an excellent question. Because I’ve become more fluent in BSL later on (I was born deaf but didn’t start learning sign language properly til a few years ago), I’ve not actually attended a Deaf club. I have been in situations where I’ve been surrounded by BSL signers and haven’t felt accepted, despite how I can more or less understand what people are signing to me (I think I’m better at ‘watching and understanding’ than actually signing in some situations). I’m not completely sure why I don’t always feel accepted – is this just the feeling that ‘betweenies’ have? 😉
It might just be some individuals are more judgemental than others, and I’ve always tried to be non-judgemental as I think everyone has a story to tell about their deaf identity/journey. I do think that Deaf clubs need to be more welcoming, particularly to deaf people who are learning BSL, because we’re deaf too – plus hearing people learning BSL are learning for a reason too. It is a good idea to have people who are specifically there for BSL learners to practice with.
Having said that though, Deaf Unity set up Deaf Unity Cafe partly for this reason – to be a space for Deaf, deaf and hearing people to socialise (without treading on anyone’s toes) and have an informal space for practising BSL or learning basic BSL. It’ll be started back up again this summer, so if anyone’s interested, let me know! Its a friendly and upbeat social group, and I’ve previously helped to teach some hearing people the basics of BSL there (plus it’s free…).
jayne
May 16, 2013
Hi Liz, I’m loving the idea of Deaf Unity Café – what a brilliant set up. This is how I found deaf clubs to be back in the 70’s and 80’s. The club I went to most often was one of the first to be Deaf-led with all social club committee members being D/deaf and at least 50% of the Executive committee also D/deaf. If this system had carried on I feel sure we would be much closer to having things like BSL Act and the like. Unfortunately, what seemed to happen was as more Deaf groups in particular took control – rightly so – they became more insular and excluded the deaf/deafened/hard of hearing and hearing people from their social settings. Maybe it’s time to open the doors again. Surely, with more people involved in working towards aims and using BSL the better to get Authorities and Government to sit up and take notice.
Ellie Brady
May 16, 2013
I’m a hearing student learning sign language as part of my degree in Reading. I have found two extremes mostly in my experience. I’ve found some deaf people welcome me signing with them, taking time to help me improve because I have taken an active interest in BSL and Deaf culture.
I’ve also found people who have a “another hearing person using me as a BSL guinea pig” expecting me to do the whole “my name E L L I E… I Live Reading” in the wrong structure, with to much lip pattern, destroying their beautiful language.
My BSL isn’t interpreter level and I do slip into English word order and fingerspell a lot of signs I don’t know, but I can do a lot better than my name and I live. I can carry a conversation.
Most of the time I’m nervous about offending people. Being another ‘hearie’ coming into the deaf world.
Most Deaf BSL users I’ve met have been nothing but nice, not a deaf to hearing conversation just a normal conversation that happens to be in Sign Language!
Just wanted to share my view.
Kate Matthews
May 16, 2013
Im hearing and I was studying level 2 when I started going to the local deaf club. I have to say was very nervous, and I was also concerned. I wanted to practice my signing but didn’t like to think I was ‘using them’ for my own benefit. I actually really enjoy meeting people too, so I kept going. I’ve been going for over a year and am in my second year of membership. I’ve tried to make sure I ‘join in’ by volunteering ie for kitchen duty etc. I now have some fabulous friends. There are groups of people that I have never spoken to or signed with, but I think you get that at any club and there are equally those who are happy to chat away. I’m now studying level 3 at a deaf club in the evenings. The tutor is deaf, but she tries to bring other deaf people in to help us or for us to sign with. I’m ally glad I went to deaf club, it’s just a shame it’s only once a month.
Oh Dear
May 17, 2013
The Question: Should deaf clubs be a social sanctuary or a learner’s study period?
Either/or: A question with ‘or’ in it IS a very bad question.
jayne
May 19, 2013
I’m not sure grammar is relevant Oh Dear
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
May 18, 2013
Very bad questions r us.
Editor
May 19, 2013
Oh well. I tried my best.
Liz Thomas
May 19, 2013
Personally I think the question is fine. It’s generated just the sort of interesting debate that one would hope for.
John Walker
May 19, 2013
I am more on the side of Oh Dear; the question creates a false dichotomy. It creates two positions that are opposing forces that might not necessarily have to be opposites. It is possible for both options to exist complimentarily. Also, the question doesn’t allow for another option to exist instead.
What is interesting is that the responses below actually demonstrates that people have already thought about this. In fact, this question has been around for decades. And people have found their own way to meet both the needs of the Deaf community and sign language learners. This leaves me with the thought of whether there is an issue to discuss here.
Editor
May 19, 2013
Lots of comment though so there must be something in it.
I appreciate this must be old ground to some but it was new to me.
Tim
May 19, 2013
There’s nothing wrong with asking “bad” questions that eg involve a false dichotomy if it gets people thinking.
Something which I don’t think has been discussed enough is the way that some Deaf people will censure oral Deaf for using SSE. That is rather unfair, blaming them for their own oppression by oralists.
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
May 19, 2013
In all honesty I don’t think that people are either a signing or an oral deaf person. That is to say I don’t think there is a sharp line dividing them.
I know a lot of people see it rather as if we are in rival football teams but it isn’t really like that. Unless of course you agree that people can be mostly Manchester United with a dash of Arsenal and the Village Athletic thrown in.
Because when you look at the real life situation we find that not all that many people are >dependent< on sign to get through the day.
The great majority use a mixture of signing, speech, writing things down or whatever gets you through the day, not just BSL. The common thread that runs through everyone is that we don't want to lose sign but I don't think there are "sides" as in one lot wants to get rid of it and the other lot want to keep it.
There is a small group who have made it a political and cultural issue. They make an awful lot of noise but they do not represent the vast majority of "ordinary" deaf people. They speak for themselves and not for all deaf people. The tail is wagging the dog.
That is what is at the heart of the whole Deaf/deaf issue. IMHO. Of course. Kill me now…
jayne
May 19, 2013
I agree with you Tim. I’ve witnessed an ‘elitist’ mentality from BSL users and more than once. The most appalling thing I’ve witnessed in recent times was during a debate session at UCLAN. It was with regard to the BSL Act and issues around why it was needed. One point raised was about people with cochlear implants not being entitled to DLA as they’d already had £36,000 spent on them -nobody forced them to have implants and so they should accept their lot in life. A young girl who had had an implant bravely got up on stage to defend herself saying she felt as if she didn’t “belong” anywhere -the Deaf community wouldn’t accept her as she had been taught orally and used SSE although she still faced the same barriers as BSL taught Deaf people. In fact, she pointed out that during this debate she had more barriers than both BSL users and hearing participants – she couldn’t fully understand the BSL users nor hear the voice over interpreter. Instead of listening to her points, the BSL users were downright rude – they refused to even try to understand her and actually demanded of the debate chairman that she not be allowed to speak as she wasn’t using BSL!! Fortunately, the chair sided with her and addressed the audience telling them that they had just demonstrated the very same bigotry and discrimination they were complaining about being targeted at them.
It was also very telling after the debate session had ended – the young girl was mobbed by hearing members of the audience apologising for the way she had been treated by the Deaf members, praising her bravery for standing up and speaking out against the views of the Deaf speakers and encouraging her to continue her fight for recognition. Apart from the chairman, not a single Deaf member bothered to do the same.
With behaviour like this, particularly coming from the so-called educated Deaf participants who are supposedly fighting equalities in society, how on earth is the wider community meant to empathise?
Liz Ward
May 19, 2013
Hi Jayne – that is appalling. I hope that the young woman doesn’t feel that everyone is like that. Like Andy (not Mr Palmer…) I think that there are a small group of individuals – in actual fact on both ‘sides of the fence’ (imaginary fence of course, since I don’t believe things are really that clear cut like Andy) who seem to shout down either oral deaf/cochlear implant users or the other side who seem threatened by BSL for some reason.
I’ve always felt that you can appreciate Deaf culture and BSL, and also use STTR, captioning, subtitling, etc etc – without any ‘cognitive dissonance’ because they’re the same thing – ways to access and experience the world. Everyone has a different way of accessing things and we all have our stories, but at the end of the day, so much is lost by people arguing amongst themselves.
I’m pretty sure human beings are more complex than either/or when it comes to deaf identity 🙂 I find it an odd thing to do, to create a fence where BSL is on one side and so called ‘oral’ means of access and experiencing the world are on the other. Some people say they’re trying not to do that, then they turn around and say things (in FB groups mostly) that are extremely offensive, and betray their polarised view of looking at things. What I see in my group of friends and colleagues is deaf people coming together and being tolerant and communicating, not the whole big D little d thing.
How does this relate to Deaf clubs? Well perhaps it just means that I respect the need for them, and I think they are indeed a brilliant place for deaf people to socialise and get to know each other. On the other hand, sometimes things need to move with the times a bit? Become more accepting and tolerant of different deaf experiences? I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that deaf history, culture, experience and language are important to retain, but we can also create new things and new ways of finding common ground!
jayne
May 20, 2013
Hi Liz – I couldn’t have put it better myself. Now lets all work towards the ideology xxx
Tim
May 20, 2013
Thanks for sharing that, jayne, I think you’re perfectly right and well done to that chair for saying it as it is! Respect has to go both ways. I think Liz is also right; there is no neat dividing line.
Liza
May 20, 2013
This is such an interesting issue. I’ve been going to my local Deaf club since I started learning level 1 BSL which was 3 years ago. I’ve now completed level 2 BSL & Deaf awareness & hope to stay level 3 in September, just as soon as everyone’s worked out what the new qualification will be!
So my signing has developed from the ‘I came by car, it took 20 minutes’ type of conversation with a very patient person to discussions about Ofsted (I work in education), moving house etc – ie a far more normal one!
I’ve had mixed experiences at Deaf club. Some people are very friendly & welcoming. Others less so. One woman thought it was funny to fingerspell her name backwards. She obviously didn’t expect me to guess what she’d done as quickly as I did & seemed miffed I had. Like she wanted to treat me like I was stupid perhaps because she’d been treated as stupid by hearies that day or something.
I continue to persevere, offer to help out in the kitchen etc, insist on signing when I’m communcating with other hearies, generally being as deaf aware as possible & hopefully will be more accepted as time goes on!
anon
May 24, 2013
Two cities I’ve lived in have had Sign Practice Clubs. The first one was set up by a hearing BSL student for other students to come and practice. It’s been going for years and these days lots of native users come, too, which is fantastic for those learning. it’s a great stop-gap, and doesn’t infringe on Deaf Club, which is first and foremost a social space for deaf people.
Charlie
September 16, 2013
Hi everyone,
As a BSL beginner (start this week!!) reading a lot of these comment is quite SCARY!
I found this article while I was looking for a local deaf group to help me learn BSL and didn’t for one minute think that I might not be welcomed or be excluded!
I want to learn BSL to help people and help the world be a less lonely place and I would have thought that deaf or hard of hearing people would be happy to include new people that are wanting to learn. I understand that a deaf group would also be a place where you can let go but everyone has to learn somehow right? If you don’t welcome learners it deffinatly won’t help the decline in people wanting to learn BSL.
As I am starting college this week any one got any tips where/how to practice BSL when I don’t know any deaf people?
Thanks guys 🙂
Wish me luck!
Gaz
September 22, 2013
Hi everyone,
AS a BSL user for work e.g. CSW and deaf child support worker, I often found i have to constituently refer back to my books, because I have made several attempts to join deaf clubs without success and found that they were not interested in including anyone who is new or wasn’t deaf e.g. already a full BSL user as first language. i can fully understand that it is there place for interaction without putting up with learners, but when BSL is required for for better integration and communication in the hearing world how do they expect us to be a competent in interpretation, courses will only provide so much!
Richard @Justsingin.co.uk
January 13, 2014
Just because two people use the same language they may not share any common interest, so why would they want to be together? I know many people I wouldn’t want to spend a minute with! However, if you don’t use the language, you will never truly understand it! I need a, I once spoke, but now I’m deaf, club/group!? Wasn’t that a song?
Richard@justsignin.co.uk Birmingham England
Oona Patterson
May 4, 2014
I’m so late to comment but think I have a great enough idea that it’s worth jumping in on this thread…
Why don’t deaf clubs offer Learners Days? For example if every first Wednesday is the normal club, every second Wednesday is a Learners Day. People who are not completely fluent yet know they are welcome on that day. They won’t feel embarassed or too polite to get involved and those deaf who are fluent can come along deliberately to meet people who want to learn to sign with them. It would be more inclusive and more socialble as it would open up the clubs to more people. The English can be too polite to talk to strangers and this would help. It would also bring in more sales and hopefully help keep the club open.
The other days would then remain as a normal bar/pub/club where you go with friends (deaf or hearing) to sign and catch up on the week.
Anyone else agree?