Insight: What could be lost as more deaf people rely on AI to write for them? (BSL)

Without giving my age away, let’s just say I do have a pension! I am a deaf, sign language user and I grew up in an oral hearing family. I was the only child, and the first ever deaf person in the family. My parents struggled with this and brought me up the only way they knew how, through shouting and emphasising speech.

As a result I didn’t learn sign language until I was sent to a deaf boarding school at a young age. Even then, I wasn’t a great signer at first. I remember pupils making fun of the way I would speak – I didn’t realise I couldn’t speak clearly and over emphasised everything.

Some good friends took me under their wing and over the years I learnt to sign and found a way to express myself.

I still struggled at school. Growing up without a proper language, I didn’t know what the words and shapes in books meant and my teachers would call me stupid or lazy. They thought I wasn’t trying to learn when in actual fact, I just found everything really hard.

Despite the cruel teachers, I loved being away from home and with my school friends. Whenever I went back home I felt miserable and lonely. My mother was overprotective of me, not allowing me to go out or play outside like other children and my father was strict and punishing.

As soon as I was able to, I left home and moved far away so I could start a fresh new life. I stayed with friends to begin with while I got myself a job. Eventually I met the lady who would become my wife through mutual friends and I started a job that involved manual work and was easy enough for me to do.

As soon as I saved up enough money, I got married and my wife and I found a home of our own. Life was good at last! We started a family and although I loved having children, I felt embarrassed that I could not read them books or share their learning with them.

So I decided I had to make a change or accept how I was and carry on without complaints. I decided it was time to change. A friend told me about a school for adults where you could go and learn basic English and that there was a person who could sign that taught them.

Although I was the oldest person there (most were teenagers) and I was very embarrassed, I went every week without fail. I passed one course but then got the bug to continue my learning. I felt good knowing that I am not stupid after all, but I just had a bad start to my educational journey.

So through the course I would bring textbooks home and practice my writing over and over again on the dining table. My children and wife were very supportive and I had to get over the shame I felt.

Still now, to this day – I still take myself off to our spare room from time to time to do a bit of reading or writing practice and I feel very satisfied by my achievements.

That was over thirty years ago when I started my journey and now I can read books of my choice and I can write letters and cards – something I never thought I would be able to do!

So I do feel sad when my granddaughter told me about the AI tools that she and her friends use (she is also deaf) to write essays or formal emails and things, because they worry about their grammar.

I sat down with my granddaughter and told her that I had to learn it all, step by step and it was a very satisfying thing to do. I can tell you about nouns, adjectives and spell complex words, because I’ve gone through the steps of learning.

But it seems the youth of today tend to want to fast track everything. But what happens if the AI tools break down or are unavailable? How will you know how to write and understand things, then?

I am old fashioned probably because I think the best way to learn to read and write is by going through the course, just like a child would when they go to school, they learn the basics then they go up a level to harder things each time.

That’s the way I learnt on my courses and it is something that other deaf people will probably benefit from too – go back to basics and start at the beginning.

I understand that some deaf people may still feel embarrassed about their level of English and so they use AI to cover that up. But that’s just ignoring the problem. We can’t rely on robots to do things for us forever!

I think technology can be useful – I think video calls are marvellous for example. But they shouldn’t replace real learning.

I was told I was stupid because I was deaf and I thought that was why I couldn’t read or write. But then I met other deaf people who had good levels of English and I realised it was because I didn’t even have a language at home growing up. Nobody showed me anything visually or helped me understand in a way that I could.

I was in my thirties when I first started learning English properly and I’m really glad I did that. I had to be brave! But it was worth it.

I would like to see more of the deaf youth gaining confidence in their own English skills by being supported to learn step by step. Whether you need someone to sign or someone to make notes, state what you need and don’t be embarrassed! It’s your life, and it will all be worth it in the end!

This blog has been written anonymously as part of the Insight series – created by Assistant editor Rebecca A Withey.

If you have a story, experience or viewpoint you would like to anonymously share please email Rebecca on  rebecca@rawithey.com

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