I am Ammaar Hussein, I am 16 and from Harrow. I have a Profound Sensori Neural hearing loss and wear two hearing aids.
I am currently starting A-levels and I will be studying History, Art, Government and Politics. In the future I want to become a Teacher of the Deaf and help deaf young people with their education.
I am currently a member of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Young People’s Advisory Board (YAB).
The YAB are a group of 18 deaf young people from all over the UK. We share our experiences with the charity to help improve things for deaf young people.
Unfortunately, one of the main issues for many deaf young people, like me, is that we are more vulnerable to being bullied. Why? Is it because of the hearing aids or cochlear implant we wear? Or just because we communicate differently?
No, I don’t think this is why, but then why do hearing people bully us? In my opinion it is because they do not understand what it’s like to be deaf and many people don’t take the time to ask a deaf person about his or her deafness.
I have been a victim of bullying myself, both physically and verbally, in my school and outside school. People would come to me, speaking very slowly, stretching their mouth, and making other people laugh.
Others would then wonder why they were speaking to me like that and would do the same. It was a horrible nightmare!
One boy in my school confronted me and spoke to me in a way that every word I spoke, he would take the mickey. I felt really annoyed and ignored him.
I wonder if there are many other deaf people who would stand up to this issue. Is this fair on deaf people like me? We are deaf not dumb!
Ammaar
I soon realised that it wasn’t only me who got bullied in school, and that there were also other students who were being bullied.
So, I decided to become an Anti-Bullying Ambassador (ABA) so I can help students who are being bullied. I help promote respectful behaviour and good discipline amongst students.
I also raise awareness about bullying, how it affects people and the importance of tackling it. I also attend ABA (Anti-Bullying Ambassadors) meetings once a week to ensure the effects and consequences of bullying are understood by every student in the school.
Any child can experience bullying, but deaf children and young people are more vulnerable to it.
Nearly two thirds of deaf young people who answered a survey by the National Deaf Children’s Society said they had been bullied because of their deafness.
The charity found that difficulties with language, communication and social skills can all contribute to deaf children feeling left out and being bullied by their peers.
Bullying is never okay and can cause horrible things such as depression, anxiety and a lack of sleep.
The National Deaf Children’s Society has produced information booklets for deaf children and young people, their parents and teachers to help them prevent and handle bullying.
It isn’t all bad though, there are some nice people who come up to me and find out how my hearing aids work and they are curious to learn British Sign Language and find out more about my deafness.
My advice to all deaf people is that YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK. Below are some of my top tips:
- Talk to someone you trust, for example your mum or your dad and even your teacher. Remember, if you keep your feelings inside, who will know that you need help or will help you sort this matter out?
- Do not fight back as it makes matter worse and you could get into trouble yourself. So ignore the bully and just walk away.
- Don’t believe the bullies. Remember, bullying is never your fault.
- Try and do things to give yourself a boost- for example you could try join a club such as martial arts (self-defence). Taking part in activities can help you feel more confident and stronger.
Ammaar is 16 and has been a member of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Young People’s Advisory Board since March 2014. To download the charity’s resources to prevent, spot and handle bullying, visit ndcs.org.uk/bullying
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Tariq
September 16, 2014
As the only British born male Muslim BSL interpreter in UK, registered and qualified
I would like offer my congratulations and my respect to you, your bravery, work and vision and for the work you are doing for all the Deaf community..
Keep up the fantastic work.
Tariq Mahmood
RSLI
Tanweer
October 6, 2014
Dear Tariq. Pls send through your contact info as am very interested to qualify down this route to support the deaf and blind with my nlp qualification, inspiring each child to aim for the stars, showing them tge possibility.
keth
September 16, 2014
Ammaar – well done with your decision to combat bullying – that’s not easy and you should be credited for that – I really hope your work is able to help other young people to overcome bullying, regardless of whether they are bullied or the bulliers.
I’d like to pick up on two elements from your article. The first is this: please do understand that bullying, for deaf children, does not have to be a hearing child bullying a deaf child. The second is this: In many ways the deafness is incidental – it does not cause the bullying. Bullying is done because the bullier feels a lack in themselves, and reaches out to take power from someone else who is different, to make themselves feel better. That difference can be anything. It can be hair colour, freckles, language, two fathers instead of a mother and a father, or a disability like deafness. It can also be something that no one can clearly identify, a nebulous something that makes the bullied person appear weaker. This makes it sound like I’m blaming the victim – I’m not. I’m simply saying that in any bullying that occurs, the psychological process that goes through the bullier’s mind is that it is “okay to do this because they’re….” and whatever that difference is.
And that brings me back to the first part of the two elements. It does not have to be a hearing child bullying a deaf child. It can be a deaf child bullying a hearing child. It can even be a deaf child bullying another deaf child. I was badly … very badly bullied years ago when I was at a deaf school, to the point that I tried to kill myself a couple of times. I still do not know why I was picked on, but then, the staff did not understand the psychology of bullying and thought it was a part of growing up, so tried to prevent the worst of the physical bullying while doing nothing about the psychological elements. It is easy to demonise the bulliers, to make them evil, but I came to understand as an adult something of their psychology, of the urge that makes them want to protect against anything perceived as different, of the urge to feel better about themselves by taking power from another. I’m simplifying hugely, of course – the psychology of the relationship between the abusers and the abusees could, and have, filled books – but I want to stress to you, to urge you NOT distil this down to something that happens between the hearing and the deaf. Yes, it can happen that way, but it doesn’t have to – as I said before, in many ways, your hearing loss is incidental.
If you truly want to be an ambassador against bullying, please, try to understand the psychology of what happens, of why certain people are chosen as victims, what it is about them that makes them a target (and it is never simple), what it is that goes through the abuser’s mind, the self-vindication process, and more importantly, how to break that – and I think you will stand in a far stronger position, not just to fight bullying as an adult, as a teacher of the deaf, but also as an adult fighting prejudice, fighting hatred, for many of the same thought processes, psychologies are found in both types of issues. Bullying, I’m afraid, is not something found only in children – you’ll find it throughout your life, in adults as well – and the knowledge you gain now will stand you in good stead when you go to university and when you start your career.
I wish you all the best.
Sandra Dowe
September 16, 2014
We need more Deaf teachers of the deaf. There are a few but not enough. Good luck Ammaar with your studies and hope you will join the tod profession in future
Tanweer
September 16, 2014
You are amazing Ammar. Well done and keep up the spirit! We need more outstanding individuals like you in the world today.
Anonymous
September 17, 2014
You are doing good work Ammaar and I agree with most of your points! Keep at it!
While laws exist to counter racism, similar laws do not protect victims of disabilities. People know that they can throw abuse at us and there’s little that we can do. We have to stand up for ourselves.
I was bullied at school and used to swallow the line that I should speak to a teacher or adult. That never worked for me. It only prolonged the bullying and made it worse. Discovering my fists and fighting back turned the tide in an instant for me. Once the bullies realised that they were going to get hurt if they messed with me, they left well alone. My only regret is that I didn’t find my fists sooner!
johnny fantastica
September 17, 2014
well done, but you dont say if you are attending a main stream school or hearing college,
this would rarely happen if at deaf school it does not matter what colour you are or religion.
The fault lays within the school and its staff for not being deaf aware and making the pupils at the school deaf aware,
its always one person with big head makes the trouble and others follow like sheep, if there are more than you deaf at the school gang together and target this person, go up in front of others and speak to him in sign language make him look daft, know this is wrong, but once killed the source of the problem others will follow.
I have been deaf all my life and thats what I do.