Liam O’Dell: It’s time to tell our stories as role models this Deaf Awareness Week

I will always remember what happened after my audiologist suggested I may benefit from hearing aids. There came the natural craving of information – to find out what exactly this all means for me – but with that, the desire to meet others who had experiences with deafness. I wanted to find out more about a community which, at that time, I wasn’t a part of.

As role models are celebrated as the theme of this year’s Deaf Awareness Week, I’m cautious not to paint the individuals who have had a big impact on my life as inspirational or motivational, for fear of turning this article into a piece of ‘inspiration porn‘ and confusing its message. Yet as I cast my mind back to when I made my first steps into the deaf community, I think of those who have taught me a lot along the way.

I think of the fellow deaf young people who started teaching me British Sign Language (BSL) when I shamefully knew so little. To Amy, Neil, Sam and Beth, who over the course of four residentials as a member of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Youth Advisory Board, helped me progress from knowing no BSL at all to sustaining a conversation in your language. Here’s to the deaf tutors – informal or formal – who introduce others to such a beautiful and visual form of communication.

I think of my local deaf group, Access Bedford, who gave me a sense of the deaf community on a small scale different to that of the national and international level I saw on the Internet. Beforehand, I didn’t know of many other deaf young people in my area, or indeed, deaf people as a whole. Thank you to Suzie and Peter for your friendship. All over the UK, it’s important that deaf clubs like these are available to bring people together.

Then finally, I think of the campaigners. People like Deafie Blogger, who has long called for more subtitled screenings, and Daniel Jillings, who last year managed to get the Government to change its stance on a BSL GCSE. I’m reminded of the parents of deaf and disabled children who are currently petitioning, marching and taking action to protect their child’s support. It would be wrong to say that deafness doesn’t present different and unique challenges to us all, but seeing how others demand change for the better helps you set your own standards for what you should expect as a deaf person.

Now this may all appear self-indulgent, but all of this taps into a wider point: that role models appear in different forms. In recent months we’ve seen a surge in representation of deaf people in the media – be it on the stage in productions such as Emilia and Going Through, films such as The Silent Child or TV series like The Walking Dead. While these occasions do wonders for deaf awareness, we too must think about the role models on a more grassroots level.

In essence, it’s likely that we’re all role models to others in some way or another, and as I think about the people who helped me, I wonder what more needs to be done as a subculture to encourage the next generation of deaf young people.

It’s something which will require further thought, but at the heart of it is community and the support it brings. Going forward, it’s important that we make sure that people hear more of our unique experiences, and Deaf Awareness Week, just like every year, is the perfect opportunity to do that.

Photo by Ollie Cole.

Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and makes the occasional video about deaf awareness on his YouTube channel. He can also be found talking about disability, politics, theatre, books and music on his Twitter, and on his website.