Rebecca A Withey: Deaf Migrants in London, a research event hosted by UCL (BSL)

Earlier this year University College London (UCL) hosted a two day event for Deaf Migrants in London, which was supported by Grand Challenges of Cultural Understanding as well as the Justice and Equality fund.

Funding for this event was obtained back in October by research fellow Tyron Woolfe and Executive Officer Indie Beedie who are both based at the Deafness Cognition and Language Centre (DCAL) at UCL.

The aim of the event was to explore the current experiences of Deaf Migrants living in London, with the intention that gathering such evidence would lead to informed proposals for future work and identify areas that require further research.

Ten Deaf Migrants were therefore recruited to attend the event, supported by City Lit and Deaf Plus who managed to invite migrants from various countries. Attending were migrants from Kuwait, Afghanistan, Turkey, Brazil, Ukraiine, Jordan and Iran. Facilitating the activities and discussions was Dmytro Prykhodko, a Deaf Migrant from Ukraine.

I spoke to Dmytro, along with Tyron Woolfe to gain further insight into the event and to understand the significance of it. Meeting them both on a Zoom call, I wanted to know from Dmytro what the Deaf Migrant experience is really like. It soon became clear that for Deaf Migrants entering Britain, the path to accessing information and support is an extremely difficult one.

For hearing migrants entering another country, they are often able to converse in their native tongue by using a language telephone line. For Deaf Migrants it is not an option to simply converse in their native Sign Language as was the case for Ukrainian, Dmytro. Deaf Migrants therefore are at a greater disadvantage and understandably much more vulnerable when it comes to safe guarding, understanding their rights and taking care of their wellbeing in a new country.

Dmytro explained to me how the migrant system for deaf people is incredibly confusing. Certain organisations who may offer help or support may actually have a criteria to abide by thus limiting the number of people they can offer support to. Courses that offer access to written English are limited to just a few hours a week, with very little information being accessible in British Sign Language let alone International Sign.

Dmytro communicated with me in clear British Sign Language with the occasional International Sign, he has clearly benefitted from regularly meeting deaf Britons such as Tyron Woolfe and has therefore been fortunate to have daily access to learning BSL. Other Deaf Migrants are not so fortunate, especially when there is currently no unified base for Deaf Migrants in London to attend or meet with others at.

On the first day of the event at UCL the Deaf Migrants took part in facilitated discussions and it was clear from this that there are several shared areas of concern that need addressing. It was found that generally Deaf Migrants are unaware of their rights and are also impacted by the limited numbers of International Sign Interpreters.

They are also often required to meet a certain criteria in order to access services yet are often unaware what the criteria is. Access to learning English and British Sign Language also needs to be vastly improved.

Dmytro told me how the event allowed him to gather with others who have had similar journeys and struggles. He described the inevitable loneliness many of them feel due to being in a new country with so many barriers, their sense of isolation is only amplified by their deafness and inability to find a common language to communicate in.

Going forwards Dmytro mentioned how he would like to see Deaf Migrants as having a voice and being heard. This was a sentiment echoed by the experiences shared by other Deaf Migrants as so many stated how they felt invisible and unable to access services.

Tyron added that even he as a Deaf Briton was shocked to see the delays of support on offer to Deaf Migrants and how so much information is either absent or laden with so much jargon that it remains inaccessible.

On day two of the event, academics at UCL and from across the UK were invited to facilitate further conversations and to identify what is needed by Deaf Migrants in London. Nina Sivunen, a Deaf PHD researcher from Finland shared examples of how Deaf Migrants in Finland are guided to learn Finnish and Finnish Sign Language and also supported at a training centre to integrate into Finnish life and culture.

It was then suggested that perhaps Deaf British people could be employed to support Deaf Migrants or even opportunities created for Deaf Migrants to volunteer with British communities.

Since the event, Deaf Plus and Greater London Authority have invited Deaf Migrants to be part of future planning of service development and to influence the sharing of information. It is hoped that this collaboration will lead to tangible actions that will make a positive effect on the lives of Deaf Migrants in London.

I am grateful for the opportunity to chat to Tyron Woolfe and Dmytro Prykhodko about this and to raise awareness of a clear gap in information and the way the law system currently deals with Deaf Migrants in the UK.

Access to information is at the basis of everything in life, without it we would not be able to stay safe and well, nor would we be able to thrive in our lives. It is clear that with the current system, Deaf Migrants are not being given equal access to information nor are they currently being supported sufficiently to integrate into British society.

The way forward depends on several things. Firstly, a person centred approach must be used as not all Deaf Migrants use International Sign and therefore more needs to be done to identify how language barriers can be overcome. Secondly there needs to be some kind of national approach to services on offer to Deaf Migrants, with clear signposts and direction of information.

Finally, there needs to be greater awareness of the obstacles experienced by Deaf Migrants so that service providers can bear this in mind when devising and delivering projects.

I would like to commend Tyron Woolfe, Indie Beedie and all those who attended the event at UCL on kickstarting awareness of such an important issue and I am keen to see how the evidence gathered from this event is used to implement much needed changes for Deaf Migrants.

If you would like to read more about the two day event in London or if you have a query relating to this event, please contact Tyron Woolfe at tyron.woolfe@ucl.ac.uk