Deafie Blogger: Swimming with deafness – and becoming a lifeguard!

I’m deaf and I love swimming! There’s something about taking my hearing aids out and swimming – the sense of tranquillity, peace and my own thoughts, away from the hustle and bustle of the noisy hearing world…

It might surprise some people but I was once a qualified lifeguard! It is possible for a deaf person to do this job, as it’s all about visual receptive skills watching out for hazards and people’s reactions when swimming… but more on that later!

Swimming from a young age

Believe it or not I hated water when I was a baby! If my parents gave me a bath and one drop of water went on my face, I screamed! My parents were probably dreading my first swimming lesson…

So it goes that they booked me one to one private swimming lessons, but the lady who was meant to teach me was away, so another stood in – my Mum told her, ‘are you aware my daughter’s deaf?’ and she was fine with it!

I never wore hearing aids in the pool and relied purely on lipreading, facial expressions, visual clues, swimming demonstrations and I picked it up really easily. I never missed out on hearing in the pool, as it’s all visual, and pool environments are super loud anyway, hearing people probably struggle to hear!

My confidence grew with her, away went the arm bands and pool woggles, and there I became a dolphin! I joined the local swimming club and went into competitive swimming, where I competed with a flashing strobe light to start races. I loved it! There’s something about the adrenaline and heart beating when competing, to finishing with the hand on the wall – I miss those days! Due to school commitments I had to retire from competitive swimming in my teens.

How I became a lifeguard

I never wanted to be away from the water, so alongside general swim fitness sessions, I decided to do my National Pool Lifeguard Qualification. I had to research the course and meet with the teachers to discuss how I could access the course.

The teacher was so helpful and said I could do it, just extra explanations may be needed, videos to be subtitled, the rest of the course attendees had to learn some deaf awareness – especially in the pool and visual clues were created for when whistles were blowing, to when someone had to do a rescue. The rest was a breeze! (Only joking – it was an intensive course – in the pool and classroom every day, tiring but I passed!)

My examiner thought due to people’s misconceptions of deaf people being lifeguards and the potential barrier of ‘health and safety’ even though he could see I was at no risk as I was more visually responsive to a rescue than others who were relying on sound – people can’t always scream when they’re drowning – so it’s more about watching to see if someone’s in difficulty, so he gave me a job lifeguarding with his private school swimming lessons which I thoroughly enjoyed! From then on, I had experience to lifeguard in other pools.

I loved lifeguarding, even though it’s a big risk putting other people’s lives in your hands but it is possible if you put your mind to it. Never let anyone say you can’t do something, prove them wrong!

I then gave up lifeguarding due to work commitments as well as the lifeguard renewal courses which were every two years – but it was one of the best experiences I’ve had!

Now, I love a little swim now and again!

Ellie (Deafie Blogger)

Deafie Blogger, aka Ellie, was born profoundly deaf, uses verbal communication, lipreads and wears Phonak hearing aids. Ellie embraces every new challenge; working as a Marketing Executive for a Spa & Health Club and blogging for Hearing Like Me and British Deaf News. She is passionate about deaf awareness, campaigning for equality and helping others through her personal blog as Deafie Blogger.