Paola Brolis: A Reflection from a Hearing Mother of a Deaf Child to all others out there! (BSL)

First and foremost, Hello and Happy New Year 2026 to everyone! I’m Paola, hearing mum to Everly, my gorgeous 4-year-old Deaf daughter.

Everly was born profoundly deaf and her first language is BSL (British Sign Language). She is a bilateral cochlear implants user, has some access to sound and is learning to speak.

Everly was the first EVER Deaf person we have ever met, and when told she was deaf, we as a family immediately started learning BSL, despite being told she wouldn’t need it because technology will ‘fix’ her…!

Our main goal was to provide her with access to language – so I did all the research online and understood that learning BSL was what she needed and so we all agreed to learn this and use it in our home.

And that was the BEST choice we could have ever made!

Fast forward to today, Everly’s BSL skills are great and constantly improving. She is attending a Deaf school and is thriving, with the support of a strong Deaf community around her!

Our recent trip to Italy for Christmas holidays to visit our families made me reflect on the – one of many! – roles I have as a hearing mum to a Deaf child.

I feel that us hearing Mums need an acronym of our own: HMDC!

Right?

Mums have MANY roles – don’t we all know! – but hearing mums of a Deaf child, to those who are BSL users, also have a very difficult and essential role that society doesn’t seem to acknowledge. I feel this role is often taken for granted, and categorised, from our ex-council as: just expected parenting duty.

We are our child’s interpreter – without the knowledge and the qualification! Most of us are learning BSL with some having just started whilst others have had to pause their learning due to other family priorities or work commitments.

Many are using all of their free time to engage with the Deaf community to learn as much as possible and make sure their child is exposed to all that learning too.

It is ONE DIFFICULT role to have, and all whilst learning a new language AND carrying on with general parenting and specialist advocacy roles! And – I must add – it’s not optional, it’s ESSENTIAL.

Yet society expects us to translate for our child, everywhere we go. Whether this is for doctor’s appointments, meeting with families, going to the restaurant, attending a (hearing) friend’s birthday, going to the zoo, going to the hairdresser, choosing food, going shopping, to a museum, and so on!

So I want to say to all the other HMDC out there: I see you! And you are doing a FANTASTIC job.

I wear my badge of HMDC with PRIDE as I know I wouldn’t change it for the world!

The world needs changing though, and massive improvements are needed around access for Deaf children especially, but that’s a blog topic for another day!

Paola is a hearing mum raising her Deaf daughter Everly with her hearing husband Stef. Paola is passionate about advocating for her daughter, learning BSL and spreading Deaf awareness. You can find Paola documenting her BSL journey with Everly here.