Michael Isaacs: Life as a deaf poet and my aspiration to raise the profile of BSL and invisible disabilities (BSL)

Hi everyone, my name is Michael Isaacs, I’m 41 and I am a Deaf poet.

A few years ago a well known building society launched a series of advertisements where spoken word poets performed some of their favourite poems. This piqued my interest in poetry as I felt really engaged on the performances of these poets.

Then in 2019 I found myself writing down thoughts and feelings onto paper, which helped me to channel the grief I was experiencing when my Mum passed away in May of that year.

I continued to write throughout the pandemic, as poetry helped me to articulate my thoughts and feelings in ways that I couldn’t convey in day to day conversations.

I actually completed a degree in English literature back in 2005, mostly studying the classic poets, but admittedly I did find poetry tricky to understand and grasp.

It wasn’t until many years later, by watching poets such as Hollie McNish, Lemn Sissay, Benjamin Zephaniah, on YouTube, when I became enthused and inspired by their rhythm, style, beat and the overarching messages they were conveying in their poems.

In the summer of 2022, I plucked up the courage to take part in a local open mic event in a nearby cafe and entertainment venue. I loved every minute of it, the people were so friendly and the whole setup was wonderfully inclusive. So since then I’ve been involved in many more open mics and have taken part in several slams.

In my own writing I am a big advocate for raising awareness for my invisible disabilities; Crohn’s, deafness and OCD. My poems have enabled me to express the difficulties I’ve faced during adversity, the stigma and embarrassment attached to some of these disabilities, whilst also celebrating why I’m proud to be me, and part of a wider community of people in similar situations.

I also write about grief which enables me to channel emotions. I love writing about the sun, light, the stars and family.

In August of this year I participated in the Dover heat of the Kent poetry championship slam. I performed my poem entitled “Deaf and Proud” from memory, using sign language.

I did not stand in front of the mic, as I wanted to ensure my performance and signs were not obscured in any way. It was the most liberating and enjoyable thing I have ever done, and I was over the moon when I won.

My poetry is – in this situation – enabling me to feel seen. I don’t have to pretend or wear a mask, I can be my true self.

As a deaf person, I find communicating a challenge. I am very fortunate to have a supportive family, where my wife and three sons do everything they can to ensure that I am included.

My sons act as CODAS, something that I am grateful for but I also feel frustrated that they have to take up this role due to the communication failings in some parts of society. There is far more awareness of the deaf community, but there is still a wide divide between the hearing world and the deaf world.

I wear bone anchored hearing aids BAHAS, which have been amazing in terms of enabling me to access sound. I previously used to wear in the ear hearing aids but I was plagued for years with ear infection upon ear infection.

I also use speech to text apps occasionally, with varying levels of success. I do encourage people to write things down for me, but I do find that people tend to panic when I tell them I’m deaf, which can often lead to them unhelpfully shouting or becoming flustered to the point where the conversation is usually abruptly ended.

However, I do have some encounters that are positive, such as people speaking clearly so that I can lip read. I sometimes use sign language as I have a level 1 qualification in BSL.

In my poetry I often try to capture how sounds can feel different and sometimes absent. I also write a lot about deaf awareness, with my poems containing messages of hope and wisdom in order to reach out to the hearing world to help them understand.

I also celebrate my deafness in my work, because it is an absolute privilege to be part of a community that is so creative in their approach to being Deaf, and how they navigate the hearing world.

I discovered BSL in 2016. My Mother and I decided to enrol on a level 1 BSL course, in order to help me develop more tools to communicate with other people, particularly those in the Deaf community.

I thought – and still do believe – that BSL is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. It is so mesmerising and engaging to watch and be involved in, to the point where I added my voice and poetry to the 2022 campaign to get BSL officially recognised as a language by the government.

2024 has been an amazing year for my work. I won my first ever slam in February with a poem about deafness, and followed that up with two other victories in May and August.

One of my most proudest achievements was when in December 2023, I performed 7 different poems about Crohn’s disease, in 7 different venues, across seven consecutive days, to raise money for the Crohn’s and colitis UK charity. I raised £426, but more importantly the awareness I raised has led to more people having conversations about inflammatory bowel disease, which is helping to break the stigma.

Looking towards the future, I hope to continue to raise awareness about invisible disabilities. Beyond that I’d love to perform more poems in BSL because it’s such a beautiful and powerful language.

I’d love to publish a book containing a collection of my poems and I especially would like to work with other poets to celebrate this incredible genre.

I am a big fan of the deaf poet Raymond Antrobus. As a deaf person, his work is so relatable and thought provoking. I’d also love to work with Hollie McNish because she is so wonderfully honest and open about how she views the world.

Hollie’s poetry particularly motivates me to continue to raise awareness for Crohn’s because it’s important to talk about things that are often regarded as embarrassing, particularly in my case inflammatory bowel disease.

I am doing a couple of local performances before the end of year, details of these can be found on my Instagram page. Beyond that I’m hoping to be in Canterbury in February participating in another slam.

Going forwards I aspire to learn more BSL. I’d love to do level 2 and explore further opportunities to use BSL alongside spoken word poetry.

You can find Michael and his work via his social media pages at @michael.purple.poetry7