A conversation with Samantha Baines, a deaf author, comedian, actress and broadcaster! (BSL)

To see the BSL translation of this article, thanks to Signly, please click on the signing hands icon at the bottom right side of the page! Then click on the text, then swipe or click on the play button to see it in BSL. Please tell us what you think here.

Hi! So firstly, can you introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Samantha Baines, I am based in Kent and I live with my dog Custard and my cat Queen Victoria. I’m deaf, divorced and bisexual too!

I discovered I was deaf just before I turned thirty and got my hearing aid soon after my thirtieth birthday, which was quite the birthday present! I’d had lots of ear infections, glue ear and grommets when I was at primary school and looking back I think I may have been deaf from an early age.

The last 5-6 years have been a real journey into my deafness, meeting other deaf people, learning about deaf culture, speaking openly about my experience and becoming an ambassador for RNID. I’m learning sign language which is incredible and something I didn’t have access to when I was younger and I am learning more about being deaf all the time.

Did you know much about deafness or had you met many deaf people before this? 

I felt very lonely and ‘other’ when I discovered I was deaf. I had never met anyone who used BSL and never seen anyone under 70 with hearing aids outside of my family.

It’s through my opening up publicly about being deaf and what that means for me that my Mum has expressed more acceptance of her hearing loss (as she refers to it). We still don’t really discuss being deaf together but she is very supportive of my book and we know what tables to pick in restaurants (the ones at the back away from the crowds) without having to discuss it, which is useful!

How did you react to becoming a hearing aid wearer? 

I have hearing loss in both ears but it is more extreme on my right side so I only wear a hearing aid in one ear. My first hearing aid was an NHS one that was too large for my ear (I have very small ear canals) and was very painful to wear. I think it’s brilliant and so important that hearing aids are accessible via the NHS but it wasn’t a great experience for me.

Getting a Phonak Audeo was a revelation in comfort, phone controls, streaming and filtering out some background noise and that felt exciting. Getting a bright pink Amplifon hearing aid was a revelation in deaf pride and I felt like I wanted to show off my hearing aid as well as talking about it.

However, it’s really been writing my children’s books with hearing aid wearing deaf protagonists and going into schools to talk to children that’s made me love my hearing aid on a whole new level.

Comparing hearing aids with children in front of a class of their hearing peers, seeing their faces light up and the other kids asking questions and getting excited about hearing aids too is just the best. It makes me feel so honoured to be deaf and so glad that it changed my life in the way it did.

How did you adjust to this change, did it affect your identity?

I definitely had an identity crisis and had to overcome my own internalised prejudice of deafness and disability. I think talking about my feelings on stage in my stand up, really helped me process some of that.

Writing my new book had also been a revelatory process as I’ve been able to interview so many other deaf people with different experiences to mine and I’ve learnt so much.

Despite having new amazing deaf friends it’s rare to sit down with someone and have the opportunity to ask them question after question. It turns out ‘doing research for my book’ is a great excuse to interrogate your friends!

Did you notice any difference in how you were treated after you got hearing aids? 

Yes! Other people’s responses to hearing aids and deafness are varied and often very strange. I’ve had all of the “you don’t look deaf”, “you’d never know”, “my grandad has hearing aids, “I think I’m deaf too” responses, that so many deaf people get.

Despite previously appearing in The Crown, Call The Midwife and Silent Witness I haven’t had a TV acting job since I added ‘deaf’ to my acting and online profiles and whilst that could be a coincidence (or maybe I’ve become a terrible actor recently) it does have an impact.

I am very lucky that I’m in a position to do other things like write books, present on the radio etc but it does make me feel sad.

You’ve mentioned you’re really comfortable with your deafness, and grateful for it now – has it taken time to feel like this?

I love being deaf. I love wearing my hearing aid and I love not wearing my hearing aid too. It’s definitely been a journey, which has been informed by so many other deaf people and their deaf pride. The children I get to meet, who have read my books/seen me talk and write me letters or send me videos has really helped!

A lot of it is personal though and working through your own identity issues and mental health barriers. I have anxiety and during the pandemic when everyone wore masks, I found it very hard as I rely on lipreading. It got to the point where I didn’t want to go outside or go anywhere where I might have to interact with other people.

Being an ambassador for RNID has really helped give me a purpose by supporting their campaigns, which has in turn helped me feel empowered to make change.

In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles for deaf people?

Being deaf isn’t an obstacle it’s a world created by and for hearing people that creates difficulty. Accessibility is getting better but it’s so often at the bottom of the list.

I’m involved in RNID’s Subtitle It campaign and the lack of subtitles is just so frustrating, particularly because fixing it is so straight forward!

Public transport is ridiculously sound reliant. Being called on the phone to book an audiology appointment. Doctors surgeries that don’t have screens to display patients names.

The biggest obstacle though, is awareness. We need to see more discussions about being deaf and disabled on TV, in the House of Commons, wider representation, hearing allies speaking up when companies are called out, BSL being taught in schools, teachers not having to use their own salaries to get deaf awareness training.

Do you think there are enough deaf people in the mainstream eye? 

Nope. Rose Ayling-Ellis gave a fantastic speech about this at the Edinburgh TV festival and I’d encourage everyone to watch it.

Just EMPLOY DEAF PEOPLE. That’s the bottom line. Not just in front of the camera; in the commissioning rooms, writers rooms, producers, publishers, editors. A deaf person is four times more likely to be unemployed than a hearing a person! It’s just not acceptable.

I get emails every week asking me to work for free to advise people on how to be more deaf aware, or do something for a company for free because it’s ‘for a good cause’ to promote deaf awareness.

I volunteer as ambassador for a registered charity, that’s the work I do for free. If you want to raise awareness in your workplace by hosting an event, great but don’t let the deaf person you bring in to create that event be in the only person in the building who isn’t getting paid!

Tell us more about your writing, what is it you love about this profession? 

I’ve always written but didn’t think of myself as ‘a writer’ for a long time. I thought authors were posh old men when I was at school and I wasn’t ever going to be that, so it wasn’t a career I considered.

What’s so exciting about publishing more recently is that an author can be anyone with a good story to tell. I’d love more deaf writers to have publishing opportunities to share a whole range of stories and perspectives. I hope that my books might help more of those opportunities arise.

Did your own deafness inspire your previous books that centre around a character who is deaf? 

Yes. Being deaf is the reason I started writing books! I’d always loved to write but never imagined someone would let me write a book. It wasn’t until I started working with RNID and talking openly about my deaf experience that I would be asked for recommendations for books and tv shows with good deaf representation.

I realised that up until that point I’d seen hardly any deaf representation in the mainstream and I hadn’t ever read a book with a deaf main character. I was so shocked by that I decided to do something about it and write one myself. Luckily that book wasn’t terrible and it became Harriet Versus the Galaxy, my first book for children.

What sort of response have you had to your writing? 

Despite initially believing that having my book published was some mistake and someone was going to turn around any minute and unpublish it (which I don’t think is possible but I still lived in fear) Harriet Versus the Galaxy got an amazing response. It won an award, was reviewed well in the press and most importantly parents tell me how much their children love it.

My favourite stories are the ones when parents say that their little boy read in three times in a row, or their child dressed up as Harriet for world book day and showed off their hearing aids proudly as part of their costume.

Teachers have also read the book to their class and it’s become a jumping off point for learning about hearing aids and deaf awareness or even joke writing (my books are always very silly too).

My second book The Night the Moon Went Out was recently longlisted for the Adrien Prize, a book prize celebrating disabled voices and stories and I’m so honoured to be the only deaf author with a deaf protagonist on that list, representing for my fellow deaf folk.

I don’t want to be the only deaf children’s author though, there are other brilliant deaf authors and deaf stories out there and I want to see more and more!

Your newest book is out to pre-order – Living With Hearing Loss and Deafness: A guide to owning it and loving it. What inspired this one?

This book was the first book I wanted to write. It was the book I searched for when I found out I was deaf and wanted more information and to feel less alone.

When I first suggested the idea for this book to some publishers they told me it was ‘niche’ and wasn’t something they thought could work. It’s been a long process but two children’s books down and a few years on and the world is starting to change just enough for this to happen.

We know the stats. 12 million people in the UK with some form of hearing loss, is that niche?! The brilliant Lindsey Evans at Headline believed in me and this book and I’ll be forever grateful, even if it sells one copy and helps one person who felt overwhelmed and utterly alone like I did after that hearing test, it will be worth it.

What can readers expect to learn or enjoy from your newest book? 

In it I’ve answered a lot of the annoying questions that deaf people get asked so often. My hope is that if you get asked them again you can just hand them a copy of the book and not bother with replying.

Hearing people will learn a lot and get some practical advice on how to support colleagues/friends/loved ones. Deaf people will hopefully feel seen and supported.

Everyone can have a giggle at the ridiculous situations I get myself into, like crying in a bike shed in Westfield Shopping Centre or asking my GP if there was a spider living in my ear.

I got to interview some incredible people for the book from charity representatives, audiologists, influencers, activists, business owners and the first deaf actor I ever saw on tv (David Bower in Four Weddings and A Funeral) who share excellent words of wisdom and advice.

There’s also important things like what grants and benefits are available to you if you are deaf and how to apply for them as well as where to access resources.

Whats next for you? 

Bed. After that who knows! I will be promoting my book when it’s out in April and I’m writing more children’s books too. I’ve never been able to predict what will come next in my career and that’s just the way I like it.

Do you have any advice to share with other deaf people who may be budding authors? 

Go for it. Write that book. Read and support other deaf authors, ask questions. Believe you can do it because I believe you can.

You can pre-order Samantha’s new book LIVING WITH HEARING LOSS AND DEAFNESS: a guide to owning it now.

www.samanthabaines.com