People

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.

Last year I was looking for a bank to open a new account with. When choosing a bank, many customers' priorities may be; high interest rates, reward schemes or good customer service. For me, my main filter is accessibility.

With Mother’s Day coming up, I figured, why not turn the tables and give my wonderful Mum the opportunity to share her story of deafness and what it means to her.

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

One of the most common problems that D/deaf people face on a daily basis is not being able to contact organisations easily. For D/deaf people who cannot use the telephone, this can cause frequent accessibility issues.

On May 27, Deaf Rave had its first outdoor festival in Tower Hamlets' beautiful Victoria Park. It was organised by 'DJ Chinaman' Troi Lee, who I had previously interviewed. I have been writing about the Deaf Community for more than a decade and yet I hardly ever meet Deaf people. Seeing them rather than just reading about them was so emotional.

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

Perhaps because I live and breathe it, I can’t quite understand why there are still so many inaccurate perceptions about deafness and hearing loss?

Arthur first started at Birmingham Deaf School and then went onto Northampton Deaf Club. He was interested in sports and organised the MDSA's cricket matches. In the 1960's he became involved with the BDA, being the Secretary, then the Chair of the Midland Regional Council, organising many activities.

Nicaraguan Sign Language is one of the world's youngest languages. Until the first Deaf school in 1977, the Nicaraguan Deaf community was isolated and languageless. After the Sandinista Revolution in 1979, Nicaraguan Sign was spontaneously created by deaf children gathered together in oralist schools run by East German teachers.