Bloggers

When I started blogging, I was also going through the process of finding my deaf identity, and part of that was looking for a deaf role model; someone to look up to. Other than the famous deaf celebrities, I couldn’t find that person and I aspired for an influential individual, so I figured why not become that person?

When people ask me to describe my Autism in the simplest way possible, I tell them: “It’s the opposite from being Deaf.” What do I mean? Autism is the inability to filter information, we do not have the 'cocktail party effect’ so cannot separate various noises and conversations.

Matthew Johnston from London is believed to be the first profoundly deaf person to sit on a jury in a crown court in England...

“It does not slow down your speech. Signing babies generally have better language capacity or language authority than babies who don't sign, because even though signing is physical, it's still a language. Whether it's manual or verbal is secondary to the point that you're learning to communicate your thoughts and ideas, learning to transmit your intentions to someone else and theirs to you.”

William Stokoe (pronounced Stowkee) is the man most responsible for ASL being recognised as an official language rather than just a mimed vocabulary. Surprisingly, he wasn't deaf or a signer. He was an English teacher who had gone to Gallaudet college (the world's only Deaf University) in 1955 to teach Chaucer to deaf students.

I have been working with Autistic adults for more than a decade. Autism (which I myself have) is a neurological disorder that limits a...

Troi Lee ‘DJ Chinaman’ has been organising Deaf Rave http://www.deafrave.com since 2003. I interviewed him about the barriers Deaf musicians can face and about his plans for a Deaf Festival.

Around 9 million people in the UK have some form of hearing loss*. Every deaf person is different, with various degrees of loss, and using a wide range of assistive technologies depending upon their access requirements. Communication is the main barrier that deaf people face, particularly with access to services.

Last week was all about recognising the wonders of captions. As part of Captioning Awareness Week, I was invited by Stagetext to watch a captioned performance of Mamma Mia the Musical in London!

Two deaf friends will hike the length of the UK to raise money and awareness for mental health in deaf people.