History

As BDA documentary Power in Our Hands which premiered last November prepares to go on tour Kevin Watson finds out how the project began. A chance discovery during...

It’s 25 years since Dean Barton-Smith, Member of the Order of Australia, became Australia’s first deaf Olympian at the Barcelona Olympic Games to compete...

The Deaf Museum & Archive’s collection includes works by deaf artists going back to the 18th century. Peter Jackson encourages members of the Deaf...

A new BDA website opens its archives up to the public as well as allowing the Deaf community to share old photos and videos...

An attractive new pictorial history of the BDA is being published later this month to mark the organisation’s 125th year. The book, a joint project...

To celebrate International Women’s Day, here are the achievements of 5 famous D/deaf and hard of hearing British women.

William Shaw (1869-1949) was arguably the greatest Deaf inventor. He invented Deaf-friendly doorbells, alarms, clocks, baby monitors and phones.

Martha's Vineyard is an island in Massachusetts and was home to the world's most famous Deaf community. Even though they were never more than a quarter of the population, nearly everyone used the local sign language which would go on to form the basis of ASL.

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.

“Tracing your Deaf family history can be harder than you think,” explains Geraldine O’Halloran during our interview, “but once you start it soon becomes...