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.

Click here to watch this post in BSL

I’d like to talk about my Deaf identity. The reason for this is because since I started working for RAD in June 2003, I have experienced such a huge, steep learning curve with regard to the Deaf community and culture, and an assertion of my own Deaf identity and use of BSL.

Although I have always considered myself as Deaf – I was never ashamed of being Deaf; fed up yes, sometimes, but ashamed, never – I didn’t quite realise how un-Deaf I was until I started working for RAD and interacted with Deaf BSL users. To put it bluntly, before I started working for RAD, I was an oralist who did not believe in the value of BSL. Now, I consider myself a BSL user as well as oralist, which I guess means that I’m bi-lingual? Perhaps Alison can clarify that point for me. Actually, why do I need to label myself in the first place?!

I remember Alison told me once that when I first started working for RAD, she and John Savva used to laugh about me being so pro-oral, and they were sure that I would change my ideas before long. They were proved to be right! After working with Deaf BSL users for 17 months, I have come to realise that BSL is a beautiful language, and I find it so much easier to understand than lipspoken English. I also love to produce BSL, and find it extremely impressive and relaxing. Much more interesting than simply saying a few words.

I find myself more and more convinced that I am no longer a disabled person; I am a member of a language minority. This notion hasn’t quite been resolved in my mind yet, because of my bi-lingualism. Does being oral mean that I’m disabled? Or am I hearing? Can it mean I’m Deaf? Is being oral part of Deaf culture, of Deaf identity?

One thing I should say though, life is very interesting. I believe life is a constant re-assertion of identity – as one gets older, one beings to realise things about oneself that oneself never considered before.

There is one problem with my Deaf identity. It has made me very political and very defensive. I can give an example: an hearing friend recently talked about Deaf people driving cars and the likelihood of revving because we can’t hear the engine and consequently wearing out the clutch before its time. I was struggling to stay calm. While it may be a valid point, I just don’t like people identifying weaknesses in being Deaf. Oooh, that’s a new thought. I hadn’t thought of it quite like that.

Perhaps all Deaf people go through this; a sort of philosophical “what is the meaning of life?” but with a Deaf perspective.