Lorraine Walsh: Returning to my childhood school as a Support Assistant for deaf students has enabled me to celebrate my deaf identity!

I was born profoundly deaf and grew up on the edge of Dartmoor. Just before I was one, I was given my first set of hearing aids. From a young age, my world was a hearing one; I had hearing parents and no siblings.

My parent’s friends and family members were hearing, the children in my village were hearing… it just made sense to everyone else that I should adapt to them, so I learnt to speak and had speech therapy all through my childhood.

It was from around the age of 4 that I discovered other children who were deaf and we were given the opportunity to use sign language.

Starting at Eggbuckland Primary School opened my eyes to sign language, other deaf children, radio aid equipment, weekly audiology sessions, specialist teaching assistants and speech therapy; all while mixing and learning with hearing children.

It gave me social skills and fair access to education. This was the 90’s where radio aids were chunky and Deaf Awareness wasn’t so out there; this little mainstream bubble was a dream!

While I was there I embraced signlanguage. It quickly became my token choice of communication at school using SSE and it enhanced my learning, it enhanced it so much that my parents took up basic sign language lessons so they could help me at times when I would struggle. To this day my mum still signs some basics to help me.

I then joined Eggbuckland Community College which also had a hearing support unit. Becoming a teenager meant my deaf life became a Deaf identity. My sign language transitioned from SSE to BSL.

Eggbuckland Community College took on new year 7 students from many primary schools in the area and most of these schools had no experience with deaf children or sign language, so meeting me was a very alien experience for them.

It was very different to the comfortable “dream bubble” I had been in beforehand at primary school. I realised I had to adjust to whoever was talking to me. If they were hearing I would talk, if they were deaf I would sign, the majority didn’t adjust to me. I was one of the minority.

I struggled massively socialising with my hearing peers and stuck to being with my deaf friends which gave our group a stereotyped label “the deafies” – we didn’t mind it because we could be together and sign to each other.

Our radio aids became less chunky the more advanced technology became, and we had dedicated teaching assistants for each of our lessons. If there were more than one deaf child in a class, we would share the TA. I looked forward to those lessons because I knew the small group of us could have a side conversation while we were learning. It made the lessons go by easier.

Getting to and from school was by taxi which was provided by the council. I would usually be the second pick up at 8am and the last drop off at just gone 4pm. I always envied those children that could walk home from school chatting with their friends but it was what it was, and the council provision was a huge weight off my parent’s mind.

I went into the 6th form in 2007 to do A Levels, however I left after the first year because I fell out of love with education. I felt like I had become forgotten, everybody assumed I could do well without a teaching assistant.

I can always remember my old psychology teacher telling me my essays were not good enough because I write too well and not scientific enough. This stumped me and I tried and tried repeatedly but I got the same response every time.

When I left sixth form, it was just me and the real world. I went on to join small training sessions surrounding care work and worked part time over Christmas in various places.

I remember one time I used to work as a housekeeping assistant in a small hotel. One day an iron got left on in the laundry room while I was cleaning the bedrooms, the owner blamed me “it must have been you because you’re deaf, it’s something you would do” – I quit that day because I wasn’t the one who left it on as I didn’t do the ironing!

Another awful experience was when I had a colleague who was partially deaf and we were signing to each other and a customer reported it to our line manager. This line manager pulled us both into the office and told us that we were forbidden from using sign language at work because no one else knew what we were saying! Needless to say we got an apology the next day when I took it further!

Eventually, I found a full time job working in a care home for residents with dementia. I was 18 and very new to it all, I worked with a team who mostly hailed from the Philippines so their accents were very strong and confusing for me.

Three months into the job, I moved away from elderly care and worked for 9 years at a day service for adults with disabilities. Through all those years I obtained qualifications in the health and social care sector. I loved my job and was a part of their family then I saw an advert from my old school for a Hearing support Assistant!

Applying for the job at Eggbuckland was a surreal feeling. I had already been volunteering at the school to gain experience as I knew I needed to move on from my previous employer. I ummed and ahhed whether this was the right decision for me as I had a small family of my own.

The application was sent and I was invited to an interview. I was crazy excited, but so nervous! A tour was given which brought back visual memories of me being in the classrooms, I could picture the teachers I had and who used to be in there with me. One question I vividly remember from my interview was “what would you say has changed about Eggbuckland since you were last here?”

I thought for a moment then answered, “Your windows. They are so new looking and white. It changes the face of the school!” It raised a laugh and it must have worked as I got the role!

I was overjoyed! This was a chance for a fresh start, I could use my sign language again after many years of having to talk and hear exclusively. I could guide the next generation using the tools I was given as I grew up.

I now support students with varying degrees of deafness with their education. Not all will use sign language but I show them my world where they can if they want to. I impart wisdom onto them if they find themselves at a brick wall and I signpost them to learning styles and coping mechanisms.

As Eggbuckland is a mainstream school, I started BSL clubs for all students, their parents and teachers to participate in. Some of them have gone on to complete their level one BSL qualification and some have gone on to teach their friends and family what they have learnt from me.

Others give me a wave when they walk past me in the school and sign “how are you”. It’s beautiful seeing what was once a small group of “deafies” from my time as a student to students believing in acceptance and diversity in a secondary school.

Eggbuckland Community College really are leading the way in Plymouth for integration using ToDs, Communication Support Workers, interpreters, Deaf mentoring, Deaf role modelling, speech therapists, trained audiology assistants and teaching assistants being trained in BSL.

I absolutely love being a hearing support assistant at my old school. I am in my third year and since starting, my own Deaf identity has blossomed again. I’ve met so many people who advocate for the Deaf, interpreters who have become lifelong friends, students who are unsure of their needs and culture and my wonderful colleagues who have the same passion as me. It is a totally different environment to when I was a student.

I sign every day, I think in sign language and I dream in sign language; that inner voice in my head has it’s own Deaf identity now!

If I was asked what I would say to my younger self, I always come up with three words “you’ll be okay” 🙂

Lorraine is a Hearing Support Assistant at Eggbuckland School. She also shares sign songs via You Tube and her Facebook page ‘See the words with Lorraine in British Sign Language ’