Rebecca A Withey: A year of writing and sharing your stories

I don’t know about you, but whenever a year comes to an end, I find myself in reflective mode. What did I do last year? What did I love? What did I learn?

And I’ve realised that more than anything else, 2025 – for me – was mostly a year of writing.

One writing project in particular began early in the year, in February and it is still ongoing. It’s excited me, puzzled me, confused me and thrilled me all at various times! Thousands of words have been written and tons of ideas created, fleshed out and brought to life on paper.

The characters I have been writing about often feel like life long friends – isn’t that odd? Or perhaps the real-life humans I spend time with are subconsciously influencing the works I create – who knows for sure?

After releasing the first short film I wrote, Where the Light Gets In, last March, I soon shared the second film I wrote – Remember Me, a drama directed by Lisa Kelly and starring Diana Peedle-Calloo.

The writing process for Remember Me was both cathartic and painful. As the film centred around a deaf woman called Emma who was caring for her Father who had dementia, I couldn’t help but lean slightly on my own personal experience – as my own Father has dementia too.

The story in Remember Me is entirely different to my own personal one yet the circumstances are similar. Because of that, I couldn’t help but pour my own anguish into the words of the lead character. When Emma cries at the end of the film and exclaims ‘it’s not fair!’ – that’s exactly how I feel about dementia. It really isn’t fair.

I have had so much positive feedback around the film. People tell me they can relate. They tell me certain parts made them cry. And it moves me to know this, because I also cried writing the words for the film. Writing really can connect us.

I have seen first hand this year the power that writing has. Not only in the short films that I have crafted, but in the blogs and anonymous pieces that I get sent by Limping Chicken readers on a weekly basis.

Since I started the anonymous Insight series, where readers are invited to anonymously share their views and experiences, I have been blown away by the range of stories I receive. I’ve received accounts from deaf people, hearing partners, interpreters, teachers and each one has opened up my eyes.

I’ve learnt about types of abuse, parenting challenges, examples of ongoing discrimination and even humorous accounts and descriptions of achievements too. Yet these stories would probably never have been shared if they were not anonymous.

Why?

We live in an age where we often feel online we have to be careful what say. People worry about keyboard warriors, social media trolls, and being attacked for causes they believe in. Being able to submit stories anonymously takes away the worry of being personally targeted or judged by others.

And this is why I find our Insight series to be so refreshing. People really do say what they mean – no filter! Opinions aren’t softened or altered in a way to appear diplomatic, they’re truthful, honest and raw.

I often find I understand more about deaf culture when I read a piece or receive a BSL vlog from someone who isn’t a professional writer. They live the Deaf world! To me these accounts are like real life historical artefacts with something important and valuable to say. They each teach me something by showing me their viewpoint.

You don’t need fancy, complex English to write a blog for our site. You can even send it to us in BSL so we can translate it and your identity will always remain confidential. But it is so, so important that we keep these stories coming.

Tell us what concerns you as a deaf person. Share with us what it’s like to bring up a deaf child in this day and age. Tell us about the worries you have for your elderly deaf parents. You can even remind us of the comical side to learning BSL for the first time…!

So as I look back on 2025 before I embrace the year ahead, I feel very proud of all the people who bravely reached out and shared their story with us. I would like to say a huge thank you and to encourage anyone who is harbouring a story to consider getting in touch and sharing it sometime with us.

Who knows, maybe your story is just what someone else needs to read?

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

By Rebecca A Withey

Rebecca A Withey is the Assistant Editor for The Limping Chicken. She is also a script writer, BSL consultant and creative artist based in the Midlands. Rebecca is a Deaf, bilingual BSL user. Find out more at www.rawithey.com