Dr Justine Durno delivers powerful speech in BSL at the United Nations

Posted on February 18, 2020 by



Dr Justine Durno, who is a deaf BSL user, was recently invited to give a speech at the United Nations Assembly in New York. The opportunity came about after she was asked by HRH Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite to write a chapter in a book called “Women and Girls in Science.”

Dr Durno used her speech to raise awareness of several issues affecting deaf people and deaf children in general as a direct response to explaining why there aren’t more deaf doctors or scientists.

You can watch her speech in BSL here:

Communicating in BSL, with a voiceover by a sign language interpreter, Dr Durno explained how she feels deaf children are set up to fail from the very beginning, highlighting the damaging misconception that sign language impedes speech.

She pointed out that language deprivation in deaf children is because of this; with new parents of deaf children not being encouraged to use sign and the fact that the government only asks that specialist Teachers of the Deaf obtain a level one qualification in BSL.

She explained that with specialist teachers only using the most basic level of sign language, how can we possibly be surprised that deaf children under achieve? Durno mentions her disappointment at more deaf schools closing and states that mainstream education for deaf children is not always the best option.

Dr Durno also used historical reasons to explain cases of prejudice and discrimination, highlighting Alexander Bell back in 1884 and how he attempted to eradicate deafness by banning deaf people from getting married. This example perfectly describes how society tends to see deaf people as needing to be fixed and Dr Durno implored that we move away from the medical model of deafness and towards the social model.

I particularly loved Dr Durno’s suggestion to change the questions we ask in relation to deaf children achievement from: “Can they hear well? Can they speak well? Do they seem hearing?” Instead to “Are they well educated? Well adjusted? Comfortable with their deaf identity? Empowered?” She points out that these are the right conditions for deaf people to achieve and I absolutely agree.

Dr Durno used a quote by Dr Rudolph Pinter which states, “The aim of education of the deaf should be to make him a well-balanced individual and not a pale imitation of a hearing person.”

In response to the question ‘why aren’t there more deaf doctors and scientists?’ Dr Durno also explained how educational access needs must be improved for those in training. She pointed out how she feels there should be specific medical related courses for BSL interpreters to go on, to understand the medical jargon used in training facilities in order to support deaf trainees. This also applies for those working professionally as the quality of interpreters used directly affects their work.

She raised the important issue that many deaf people struggle to obtain work or even secure volunteer positions, explaining that although the government has the Access to Work scheme, this cannot be used for voluntary positions.

Dr Durno used this great opportunity to provide those watching/listening to her speech with a bigger picture as to why deaf people underachieve, describing how it all starts from our earliest experiences and how the current system is only set up to encourage deaf people to be like those who are ‘hearing’ which will only lead to failure.

I was pleased to see Dr Durno mention how important positive deaf role models are, and emphasise that the best people to work with and talk to in relation to deaf education are deaf professionals. As a medical doctor herself, she has a great advantage in being able to encourage the medical profession to change how they ultimately view and work with deaf children.

To summarise Dr Durno’s speech, it is clear that she believes in order to see more deaf doctors and scientists, society needs to address issues to do with language deprivation, audism and discrimination. By providing inadequately trained specialist Teachers of the Deaf, reducing the amount of specialist schools, and viewing a deaf person as being ‘less than,’ deaf people are – as Dr Durno puts it – set up to fail.

As Dr Durno urged those watching her to move with the times and consider what small changes they can make in their working and daily life to be inclusive, I genuinely hope that her voice may be a catalyst for real change.

By Rebecca-Anne Withey.

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Posted in: Rebecca-Anne Withey