North of the Stupid Line

J asks the question:

Have Deafies stopped being political now that BSL was recognised as a language in 2003, and think the work is finished (it???s not!)?

I don’t think Deafies are apolitical just because BSL was recognised as a language in 2003. I think they are just apathetic generally. Strictly speaking, the Deaf activists are in a minority these days, and I for one think it is a shame. Joe talks about the BSL March or lack thereof. I am the R he speaks of. It is something I feel passionate about, but I’m just put off by my own inexperience. We do need some more experienced people at the helm to make sure that we pull it off.

I am astounded to learn of this conference on 7 December 2005. I wonder whether the lack of publicity about this event has anything to do with Government fear of the BSL community. After all, if you were an hearie like Anne McGuire, the Minister for Disabled People, would you wanna face the wrath of the Deaf community? They must know that they’ve fucked up.

1. The Department of Work & Pensions was the Government department that officially recognised BSL. Hello! Since when does language recognition have anything to do with the department that deals with welfare benefits and pensions?!
2. The £1.5million that was awarded to fund 10 projects – what was that? I mean, the point of it was? How exactly does this promote BSL among the general population? I can count all the projects I’ve actually heard about on one hand:
3. Has your life changed since BSL was recognised? I don’t see a difference, particularly when in my casework for clients. The same old barriers and obstacles are still there for us Deafies; and
4. I am sick of tired of the general ignorance out there about BSL/English Interpreters and the need for service providers to actually provide them. The number of people who assume that Deafies are coping just fine without communciation support just continues to astound me. Raising the profile of BSL would do just that, but it hasn’t happened, so the profile of BSL simply isn’t effective enough.

What’s the British Sign Langauge Initiatives Conference for?

The conference will provide information about 10 British Sign Language projects funded by the Department for Work and Pensions to support the statement made in 2003 recognising BSL as a language in its own right.

The projects are intended to increase access to training for BSL tutors and increase awareness of the language amongst employers, amongst service providers and in the wider community.

It will be an opportunity to hear about lessons learned during the projects, share good practice, and view the products that have been developed including websites and DVDs.

In other words, it’s an opportunity for the DWP to beat their own drum and tell the world how fantastic they were in offering £1.5million to all these d/Deaf organisations and how much they’ve done for BSL (!).

I wonder who the delegates that have been invited are. I should find out if anyone from RAD is going. I wouldn’t mind going myself, actually, just to laugh at the DWP’s feeble attempts to pacify us Deafies.

I’d like to apologise to my BSL blog readers for the lack of posts in BSL recently. I do finally have a webcam, and will post soon. I promise!

I have been thinking about whether I should translate every post into BSL. Given that it takes considerable time to produce BSL clips compared to writing in English, I don’t think I have the time to be able to do this, but I will post vlogs in BSL if it is related to Deaf culture, community or a gripe about hearies etc. If I’m in the mood, I will post on general topics as well. If you’d like me to discuss something in BSL, please leave a comment and tell me what you want me to waffle on about.

Just to reassure you, I love using BSL. It is my adopted language. But, my first language is English (I was brought up oral and was an avid book reader in my childhood), and this is the language that I feel most comfortable with when posting to this blog.

I’m copying J here and posting a picture that illustrates my mood:

P.S. A really useful website for royalty-free images that allow you to post this sort of thing is stock.xhcng.

You will remember a post made a while back where I basically said that my life was stuck in a limbo at the present time. Well, no longer.

What was that all about? Well, you all know that my training contract with SWLLC starts on 28 November 2005. I was offered an interview for a law firm in Cardiff, Thomas Graham, and I was one of four candidates they wished to interview. You can imagine my excitement, and all the attempts to keep my hopes and expectations down, in the event of bitter disappointment.

Over the past month or so, we have tried to arrange an interview date, but this has been beset by delays. This morning, however, I received an email to inform me that they are unable to offer me an interview and the position has been put on hold. So that’s that. My dream of securing a training contract in Wales dashed, an opportunity to move back to Wales permanently gone.

While this is a bitter pill to swallow, at least I do have a training contract. I am looking forward to it. I’m going to be working with a really good training provider, the law centre, and will be working with a bunch of good people. The best thing of all, however, is the fact that I will continue to be employed by RAD.

May 2007, here we come!

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted since Monday. It’s strange how time tends to run ahead of you, and you find yourself in bed on a Saturday morning typing another post.

I’ve had a busy week, not just at work, but socially as well. This has afforded me little opportunity to post to the blog this week.

I’m quite fussy about who I socialise with, I think. I prefer to socialise with Deaf people than with hearing people (not including hearing people who can sign/know how to communciate with Deafies), simply because the conversations are more accessible, and Deafies know how to have a good time.

Rachel has come to London this weekend as we’re both going to the Remark! TV & Film Awards at the Novotel London West Hotel in Hammersmith. Apparently, 3,000 tickets were available, and about 2,000 have been sold. It’s black-tie only, and should be a good night. Rachel and I will be getting there and back to the flat in Croydon in a limo, so we will be travelling in style. Should be good. A lot of my friends and colleagues at RAD are going, and I think quite a few clients will be going as well, as well as well-known figures in the Deaf community. I will post pictures when I’ve recovered tomorrow!