Rebecca A Withey: John Bishop’s ‘Life after Deaf’ documentary was about so much more than learning sign language

At the start of the summer I received an invitation to attend a night of BSL comedy featuring well known comedian John Bishop. Attendees were told that we would be treated to a night featuring several deaf comedians before witnessing John Bishop’s very first stand up act in British Sign Language.

The night itself was highly enjoyable and hosted by the incredibly funny Gavin Lilley who had us all in stitches. I was delighted to discover a new deaf comedian, Leah Francisco and also meet comedian Ray Bradshaw, a CODA who uses BSL in his work.  Ace Mahbaz, another deaf performer, delivered an incredibly thoughtful and innovative act before the final deaf comedian of the night, John Smith, had us all roaring in laughter.

We were all curious as to how John Bishop would fare using sign language to deliver his act. Seeing his nerves as he came onto the stage, every part of me willed him to do well. Despite signing a little slow and disjointed at times – he is a complete beginner after all! – John actually succeeded in delivering a very visual, charming act in the friendly manner he is renowned for.

John had clearly considered the stories he shared, opting to choose jokes of a visual and relevant nature and at times his act became surprisingly physical as he rolled about on the floor to bring scene to life. You could tell John had really thought about his audience and how best to connect with us.

Despite missing a couple of punch lines – I would have appreciate some closed captions too – I was entertained by John’s act and impressed by the hard work he had obviously put into it. Delivering an act in another language is no mean feat!

Once the show was finished, the audience mingled in the bar alongside the acts and I met John very briefly for a photograph and congratulated him on his bravery. While John was politely meeting so many audience members and posing for photographs, I noticed his son, Joe, was very quietly observing everything from the sidelines.

At this point I wasn’t fully aware of the real reason for the comedy night only to find out later that it was part of a documentary called Life After Deaf, which followed John and his son, Joe, as they learnt British Sign Language in an attempt to embrace the deaf community.

From the documentary I realised that Joe came down with an autoimmune disease at the age of 15 which led to the deterioration of his hearing. Now aged 27, Joe mentions in the documentary how he has lost approximately 60% of his hearing and wears hearing aids to help him communicate.

The documentary itself was incredibly moving and I found myself feeling real compassion for Joe. Whilst many of us attending the comedy night may have assumed that the whole aim – to deliver a comedy gig in BSL – had been achieved, I realised from watching Life After Deaf that John and Joe’s real journey with deafness has only just begun.

At the beginning of the programme we see John at a gig in Dundee where he mentions his sons deafness for the first time to the audience. John asks Joe what he thought of it afterwards, to which Joe replied ‘I’d rather not be in it.’

I felt real pain in those words, noticing that at that time Joe was someone who wasn’t yet fully comfortable identifying as deaf nor yet happy with the idea of someone making jokes about it. Joe also mentions later in the documentary, ‘I’m not proud yet of being someone who doesn’t hear well’ – hinting at the ideal of the ‘deaf and proud identity.’

In all honesty, nobody can be proud of something they see as lacking. How can you be proud of what you don’t have? I could never have been proud of my own deafness until I started looking at what it actually gave me. The sign language. The growing circle of friends. The willingness to embrace differences. Yet this took time, decades even!

I want to reassure Joe and anyone like him that having a proud deaf identity isn’t something you can instantly relate to especially if you’ve grown up hearing and become deafened. There’s a real sense of loss that needs to be dealt with first. There’s a grieving process.

As we learnt more about Joe and John’s relationship in the programme, it became evident that they had struggled to deal with this new normal for quite some time. They mentioned arguments, fights, bad moods. All of which sounds completely understandable for a family dealing with something brand new.

In the documentary Joe goes on to meet some young deaf people in a pub and he comments how he’s never even seen young people with hearing aids on (like him) before. His nerves settled as he was introduced to friendly faces and he even took part in a football match with St Johns- and scored!

John stated at the start that his intention was to learn BSL in an attempt to communicate better with his son, in case he was to lose any more hearing. But in actual fact, I feel that the true achievement for John was developing an understanding of the emotional trauma his son suffered as he lost his hearing and navigated a new way of living.

Understanding that he now doesn’t have to try and ‘fix’ his son is a realisation that has brought them closer together. John affirms this when he states at the end of the programme how even if Joe doesn’t get his hearing back, it doesn’t mean he will have a lesser life.

I suspect that it may still take some time for Joe to feel truly comfortable with his deafness but ultimately I hope that by going through this journey with his Dad and making new friends he realises that he really isn’t alone.

The deaf community is made up of people with all degrees of deafness and backgrounds, with many of us having become deaf at a later age. Whilst it may feel like a culture shock to jump straight into the deaf world having growing up in a hearing one, I hope Joe knows that there is always a place for him in our community and that he no longer has to feel like an inbetweener on the sidelines.

There is indeed a life after deaf.

Wishing Joe all the best in his future and sending thanks to John Bishop and team for a wonderful comedy night in Bedford!

You can watch Life After Deaf and the BSL comedy night here:

https://www.itv.com/hub/john-joe-bishop-life-after-deaf/10a2217a0002

Rebecca Anne Withey is a freelance writer, performing artist and consultant. She is also profoundly deaf, a sign language user and pretty great lipreader. She writes on varied topics close to her heart in the hope that they may serve to inspire others.