Joanne Woodhouse-Roberts: Why I’m setting up a new sign choir to support the #WhereistheInterpreter campaign

Hi everyone, my name is Joanne. I was born partially Deaf to hearing parents, and by the age of 5 I was profoundly Deaf.  I have two younger brothers also hearing and I grew up in London and went to a mainstream school with a unit.

Primary school was great fun, and I learnt some BSL from a Teacher of the Deaf. It wasn’t a signing school but he taught us little bits here and there.  At the age of 11, secondary school was a bit more of a challenge.  I was the only Deaf pupil in my year, so it had a lot of ups and downs!

No one signed in secondary school, it was tough and I had the difficulty as a teenager of working out my identity, was I Deaf or was I hearing? I had a hearing family and went to a hearing school but I knew I felt more comfortable with Deaf people!

At the age of 16 I watched the film ‘Children of a Lesser God’ and it was a game changer for me, the film made so much sense! I knew then I was Deaf, and my outlook on life has been much easier and simpler since.

Today I am married to my Deaf husband and I am a Mum to a teenage son. I have read about and watched Lynn Stewart-Taylor’s journey leading the campaign  #WhereistheInterpreter and for me, she has been incredibly inspirational.

I really admire what Lynn is trying to achieve and most of all, admire her determination. I was therefore motivated by Lynn Stewart-Taylor to form a choir called, ‘Give Us The Sign’.

The plan is to put the choir on as many social platforms as possible with #Whereistheinterpreter JustGiving page and whoever views and likes our video, can donate.

I wrote the lyrics to the song, and Liv Austen (a musician and songwriter) composed a piano piece to accompany the lyrics and she also recorded the song. Sign song performer Fletch@ will lead the choir via Zoom and teach the song and signs!

The idea is that we need as many people as possible to join the choir and anyone can join. Deaf people, hearing people, BSL Intepreters- no restrictions at all.

We have 3 choir sessions via Zoom in November and once the sessions have finished we will have some time to practice and then we film ourselves. All we need is our mobile phone. We film alone at home signing the song, so we can have as many or as few attempts as we like!

Once everyone is happy with their recordings, they can send them to me and I will forward them to a company called Kakou who will create a video of the choir.

I have always liked music. I used to watch ‘Top of the Pops’ as it was subtitled and as a teenager, I could read the words to the song. I also used to read the ‘Smash Hits’ Magazine as a teenager and liked reading the lyrics of the songs.

I have also dabbled with music growing up. I played the violin at the age of 7 and played for a number of years. I also played the drums. Very recently I have been part of a signing choir with Fusion Music and it reminded me of how much I enjoy music.

In turn, this gave me the idea to set up a choir and give my support to Lynn and the #Whereistheinterpreter campaign. The aim is to raise both money and awareness.

I am very fortunate that my husband and I have the english skills to read the subtitles when Boris Johnson gives his briefings but this isn’t about my husband and I. As Lynn frequently says this campaign is about those people who do not have access to the written English.

It is about educating people, reminding people that not everyone is the same. Not everyone can hear and not everyone has the luxury to read, write and understand especially with complex news briefings with Boris.

If other countries can give access to their briefings, then there really is no reason that England cannot do the same! Unfortunately, we know today often we have to campaign for what we need.  It shouldn’t be that way,  but it’s a fact of life. The more people that team together, the more likely we will achieve what Deaf people in England need.

The song I wrote for the choir is very slow and gentle. It is about the lack of interpreters and Covid 19. It’s has a very soft, gentle melody as I didn’t want it to be loud with heavy instruments in the background.

I wanted this song to be about the lyrics and I wanted the focus to be on the meaning of the song to get across the reason for Lynn’s actions. This is a serious message from Lynn to the government, so I felt my song should represent something that was serious, soul searching and meaningful.

I contacted Lynn first to get her views of what I had in mind and she was very supportive and I then contacted Liv, the musician, who was very keen to get involved and she plans to join the choir too!

Fletch@ is currently working hard translating the lyrics into BSL. It’s been a fabulous project so far and I’m really looking forward to the choir, so please join me for a excellent cause, raise some money, raise some awareness and have some fun along the way!

Together we can do this!

Joanne Woodhouse-Roberts