Claire Cummings: Deaf people need to be accepted as we are

I’m, by nature, an optimist. I take joy in many things – like this gorgeous sunset. And the trees appear to be signing to each other, one of those chance captures I didn’t ‘see’ until later.

Giovanni said that Rose worked much harder than any of the other dancers on Strictly Come Dancing.

Accessing information and participating in a hearing world is hard work when you’re deaf. There is the compensating we do for not hearing things but it is so much more than that.

Along with other people of diversity, deaf people face and live with stereotyping, marginalisation and discrimination (not that we should have to).

Our sons have seen people gasp in shock when they hear my voice and, when people ask them what I say, they say “communicate with my Mum yourself, she’s not stupid.”

Hearing people can access information and participate through radio, the telephone, conversations around them, online audio content and public meetings.

Deaf people cannot learn to hear. This has silenced our voices, or rather, hands and faces for so long and made the deaf community invisible to most non-signers.

We’ve had Black Lives Matter protests, Gay Pride events; the MOBO Awards and Paralympics are shown on prime-time mainstream television, and rightly so.

There is no mass public event celebrating Deaf people and BSL; the Deaf Film Awards and Deaflympics are not broadcast on mainstream television. The one regular Deaf BBC programme, See Hear’, is on once a month early on a Sunday morning.

In 2021, there is still no legal status for BSL in England (a BSL Act was passed in Scotland in 2015).

Earlier this month I took part in a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion meeting for employees of the Council I work for.

The video quality on TEAMs was poor so I couldn’t see the interpreters, and they couldn’t see me, and the messaging facility was disabled so I couldn’t type a message to say I wasn’t able to access the meeting.

This is in spite of deaf employees telling the Council for the last eighteen months that Zoom gives a superior picture and is therefore more accessible to deaf people relying on BSL or lip-reading.

Funding for communication support including sign language interpreters and note-takers is patchy. Access to Work covers funding for paid employment but not voluntary work.

My husband was asked to join the local tennis club committee on the strength of his IT skills. He couldn’t follow the meetings and there was no money for an interpreter nor live note-taker so the club lost out on the help he could have given them on their database.

The Disabled Student Allowance covers funding for HE but not adult education. One of my friends started genealogy classes but couldn’t follow the discussion so had to pull out of the course.

And watching the Corona Briefings takes an amazing feat of mental gymnastics. The live subtitles are so far behind that when Chris Whitty is on his third slide, the subtitles are referring to the first slide and they do not catch up. Why have the UK government refused time and time again to have a live BSL interpreter in the room with them?

Rose has opened doors. Interest in BSL has surged and so many more people no longer look shocked when they realise I’m deaf. This is unbelievably fantastic and we need to grab it with both hands and push those doors wider and wider.

When communication works and deaf and hearing people work together on a truly equal basis, it is beautiful and joyful.

Working together in an equal partnership does not mean trying to make deaf people sound and ‘look’ hearing, but accepting us as we are and finding what works.

Giovanni changed the way he taught dance and adapted choreography so that it worked with Rose’s strengths and abilities. They learnt from each other and adapted and a magical partnership developed as a result; their connection on the dance floor has been compared to that of Torvill and Dean.

For equal partnerships between deaf and hearing people to flourish, communication needs to be accessible. It is not enough for a deaf person to ‘speak clearly’ – this makes it easier for the hearing person to understand them but does not make it easier for the deaf person to hear or see what hearing people are saying. Even more so when multiple speakers switch quickly.

Which is why communication support is essential. Funding for and provision of BSL interpreters and note-takers is patchy and many service providers still haven’t ‘got it’ that the voice telephone is a barrier to deaf people.

We need to be accepted as we are. BSL needs to be seen as a normal way to communicate and communication support needs to be available. A BSL GCSE is badly needed. Provision and funding of interpreters needs to be fit for the 21st Century so that deaf people can participate equally and fully locally and nationally. Society would be all the richer for it.

The Private Members BSL Bill is tabled for its Second Reading on 28th January 2022. So far, 54 MPs have met, and listened to, their Deaf constituents and 88% of MPs have indicated they are supporting the Bill. We’re getting there…

Claire says: “I’m a Deaf Teacher of the Deaf, newly freed by the kids leaving the nest and recently discovered a passion for sailing. I read a LOT, watch too many series on Netflix and am currently obsessed with Strictly Come Dancing. I’m happiest hiking in the hills or enjoying a meal and a few drinks with loved ones.”