Other telly series I have watchef

As well as Arrow and Constantine I have also watched a lot of other telly recently. Thank you Amazon Prime and a constantly feeding baby.

Parks and Recreation was ace. I think I got 4 seasons in. In the first episode I thought Leslie Knopes was going to turn into a David Brent type character, but I was wrong. She is warm hearted and kind and a ditz, but dedicated to her job. I loved Parks and Rec and i'm very pleased I watched it.

Switched at Birth - it was an absolute pleasure to watch a domestic (as in home and family based) that was also a Deaf drama and political but naturally so. Deafness is treated like it's normal. It's intrinsic to the characters but it's not all the programme is about.  It's also about class, family, art and identity. And birth. I'm so glad I'd had my boy before I watched this, or it would have been very difficult for me. I think I got 3 seasons in.

The flash - I really quite enjoyed this. There were elements and scenes that were taken out of the superhero show cliche handbook, and Iris needed more to do, to be, but on the whole it was pretty good. Seeing Grodd and the Rogues was an absolute pleasure. I'm excited about season 2.

Prison break - I got two eps in and gave up. The most redeeming thing about it is that the Flash's Captain Cold is the main guy. But he was better as Captain Cold. His diction in that role is hilarious.

I also watched the Twilight films 2-5. Loved them. They are daft, but just as enjoyable as the books.

Hawkeye got deafened

I found out last year that Hawkeye, yes, him of the Avengers fame, was once deafened in comic, and learnt American Sign Language (ASL).  A friend gave me copies of Hawkeye 4 and Avengers 239 to read, as those covered his new found deafness.

Hawkeye 4 is where he goes deaf, after Mockingbird and himself have been captured by a dude called Crossfire who comes up with this frankly batshit crazy plan:

Hawkeye escapes Crossfire's clutches by putting a hypersonic arrow head in his mouth to block the awful ultrasonic sound Crossfire is blaring out at his victims.  This noise is making Hawkeye and Mockingbird fight each other TO THE DEATH!!  It's very dramatic.  The hypsersonic arrowhead vibrates through Hawkeye's skull and counteracts Crossfire's noise assault.  But leaves Clint deafened.

He doesn't want anyone to know he can't hear, and tries to hide it:

Poor Hawkguy.  But never fear! Mockingbird knows something is up and demands he explain himself.  Then they get married.  After knowing each other for all of a week. Uh-huh.

Anyway, I thought this was a good depiction of communication problems.

Then we get Avengers 239.

Yeaahhhhh... this is going to be weird..

So, active and reserve Avengers get invited onto the Letterman show.  Clint's deafness happened fairly recently and we get a look at his coping strategies:

He gets the question sheet before the show so he can prep his answers and give them as requested.  However, it doesn't quite go smoothly:

Beast announces he is forming a new Avengers team and so Letterman's first question is about this.  But Clint doesn't see that the question is different and plows on ahead with his prepared answer.  And does the same with the next (incorrect) question.  Poor guy.  I can only hope that he didn't feel stupid after this.  I think he dealt with it quite well and pulled it off.

Upon reading this the first time, I'm ashamed to say I did wonder why he didn't lipread the different question and adjust his answer.  Upon engaging my brain I figured that Clint is newly deaf, there is no reason to assume he can lipread and he was probably quite nervous and a bit stressed about this interview.  He was concerned enough to prep for the questions and set up a scenario where he could manage the conversation without revealing his deafness.  Even if he did lipread Letterman and realise that the question had changed, what was he meant to do?  He wouldn't know what Beast had said - he wasn't facing him as he spoke.  He couldn't have asked Letterman to repeat himself and he probably wouldn't want to wing it.  Nah, I think he did the best he could.

After I read these issues I read Dan Slott's She-Hulk, where Hawkeye's deafness was referenced in She-Hulk 2.

Jennifer Walters is working as a lawyer and due to the high profile nature of this particular case the jurors have been pulled from the past, a year ago.  One of the jurors is Clint Barton, who died a few months after the point in time he was pulled from.  Jen wants to save her friend but cannot just tell him because she cannot let on that she knows him - jurors are meant to be impartial.  So, she tries to warn him.  In the most stupid way possible:

1) You cannot speak one sentence in English and simutaeneously sign a completely different sentence in ASL. You can't even do the same sentence in English and ASL at the same time, as you'll either screw up the English or the ASL.  They don't operate the same.

2) Why on earth does Jen assume that no one else in the courtroom knows ASL.

3) Why isn't she concerned about anyone asking her why is doing these strange hand movements?  Won't the judge hold her in contempt of court?  Because she sure looks like she's taking the piss.

4) Clint clearly has no idea what she's doing. 

Jen, I get you're desperate.  I get you miss your friend.  But please, don't ever do that again, it's embarassing!

If you want more deaf Hawkguy, Hawkeye 19 is a speical ASL issue.  Hopefully it will be out in JUne, but given the recent delays it could be out much later. Who knows.

Hearing dog awards

Hearing dogs for deaf people do an annual award ceremony where they recognise particular dogs that are really special to the Ddeaf people they help.

One award is the Life-Cganging Hearing dog of the year award and my friends have just won it!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!

See Foggy and Simon's story:

See the other finalists here.
See finalists for all awards here.
See winners for all awards here.

YAY! Well done fogs and Simon :D

Bristol's Deaf Community feel under seige

Cross-posted in it's entirety from this article at The Guardian.

Last week, it was announced that Bristol Deaf Centre, which celebrated 125 years of serving the local deaf community just two years ago, will lose £240,000 worth of funding from Bristol city council. This money paid for their core funding, equipment service and special projects. As a result, the centre is faced with closure, with many staff who have worked there for years served with notices of redundancy.
This comes on the back of the University of Bristol's decision a year ago (despite a campaign that gained international support) to cut a key course at the Centre for Deaf Studies. This year, the student intake for the deaf studies BSc course has stopped and as a consequence, by 2013, the number of deaf studies staff – many of whom are deeply skilled, with years of experience in their field, themselves deaf – is set to be cut by more than 75%. This is a groundbreaking, world-renowned research centre that was the first in the UK to undertake sign language research over 30 years ago.

These two cuts to deaf hubs in the city look like being just the start. In December, the future of Bristol's specialist school for deaf children, Elmfield Deaf School, was placed in doubt after Bristol city council launched an informal consultation about whether its pupils could instead attend units in mainstream schools. Crucially, due to many specialist deaf schools closing across the country, the school also serves many children from far outside the city itself. Elmfield has taken new pupils for this year's intake but its future remains in the balance as staff and pupils await a new council review.

Perhaps just one of these decisions to cut or try and cut, particularly in the current climate, wouldn't seem like the end of the world. But when this all happens in one place, you see how a community can feel under siege, with the very psychological and physical landscape of a city for the deaf people who live there seemingly set to irrevocably change. Jobs are about to be lost, or are in the balance. Deaf and hearing people who currently work together in the deaf community wonder whether it's time to move away, or change careers – if they can. Meanwhile, children wonder whether the environment in which they are educated will completely change, just as older deaf people see a place they have known all their lives, received services from and often contributed to, on the edge of extinction.
We're only just beginning to understand how cuts are affecting deaf services nationwide, most starkly in this online map from the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) showing local authority cuts to education services for deaf children. But never before have we seen so many cuts bite in one place, and so quickly.
Bristol's run of cuts and attempted cuts could be an anomaly, a freak series of decisions that happened to land in the same place at the same time. But there's fear now within the deaf world that it may instead be just be the start. Deafness at its heart affects communication. Are cuts to deaf services seen as an easier cut, when they hit people who use sign language or lipread to communicate, and, as a consequence, may be perceived as being less likely to be able to articulate their concerns to the media and the wider world? As we see services, jobs, places and institutions come under threat and disappear, very few deaf people both in Bristol and elsewhere can now hope to escape the impact of the cuts unscathed.

Not around much

Blogging is likely to come to a complete slowdown over the next few months.  I've started my BSL level 3  course in London, with Remark!, I've attended one weekend so far and have a few more to go.  It was great, really great, but I've got a lot of work to do inbetween classes.  So, I have set up a youtube channel, and I intend to upload videos of myself signing, dunno what about yet, I suspect comics will come into it somewhere.  Hopefully this will give me the confidence to sign in front of a camera and also provide me with a way to self evaluate and improve my skills.

Anyway, for the next few months or so I reckon I'll be concentrating on that and New readers... more than on Pai.  If you're interested in the channel, or if you know BSL and would like to leave me comments, the channel is here.  I think that's the right link - the channel is called sarangabsl.

I've read Justice League #1, and loved it, my review is on New readers....  I have yet to read the other number ones as I haven't picked them up yet.  Will do so Friday or Saturday.

What does everyone else think of the new DCnU titles?  What are the good ones what are the bad ones?  Leave reccs and warnings in the comments please!

Oh, and I'm particularly keen on comixology!  I downloaded JL from it before getting my hardcopy and it's easy to use and cheap.  Awesomesauce.

You def won;t hear from me over the next week though, as I'll be on holdiay in France :D

GCSE in British Sign Language?

Signature, the accrediting body for all British Sign Language, Deaf Awareness, Communication Support Worker, Lipseapking, Notetaking etc courses, are developing a GCSE in British Sign Language.  they would like to seek evidence of support and demand for the course, and are asking people to show support by going here.

For non UK people, GCSE's are the exams you take at 16.  After 16 you can leave education, but if you choose to continue studying you can take A-Levels (at 18) and then go to university.

Obviously, I support the creation of more BSL courses, so long as they taught to a high standard and native BSL users are involved in the programmes.  If you support the creation of a GSCE in BSL please go visit the page and leave a message.

Signing Choir

Some of you may know that I am in a BSL signing choir.  This means we interpret songs into British Sign Language (or sometimes Sign Suported English) and we perform them at various venues.  Lots of people are curious about this, they don't know how it works, what it entails or how we perform.  So, to increase awarenness I am providing links to our videos (eep).

The following videos were recorded on 4th May at the Forum in Norwich, for the Norfolk Deaf Awareness Festival.  For me, I was having a bad (terribly nervous) day that day, so my performance is not very good.  Others in the choir are far better that I.

Whole choir doing Take That's Rule The World

Whole choir doing Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight

Whole choir doing John Barrowman's Love Changes Everything

Solo of Alanis Morrisette's Ironic  (My favourite of all the performances)

For a taste of other ways to interpret songs, this is a you tube channel for one of my friends doing solo performances, under the name V Sign.  She's fabulous.  Really really good.

Of course, there's always Lee's BSL songs as well, which are jaw droppingly excellent.  I don't know him, I just wish I could sign like him!

Watch Your Language

About a week or so ago I went to a conference named Watch Your Language.  It was for BSL interpreters and CSWs (neither of which I am, but I have decided that I will make sure that in September 2013 I will be enrolled on my interpreter training) and was held in London.  I do start my BSL level 3 in September (finally!) so I figured this conference would be good experience for me.

It was.  Days like these improve my receptive skills, knowledge of the Deaf world and understanding of the professional side of things.

In the morning there were presentations on the role of the interpreter and CSW, and they discussed how to be a Deaf ally whilst remaining professional.  The second speech was on Deaf people's perceptions of interpreters, the role of deaf clubs and the advancement of technology and how this has changed things in the Deaf community.

Lastly there was a presentation on choosing interpreters, and how much choice Deaf people should have in picking an terp.  Does it matter if the terp is registered?  How does registration affect co-working?  How effective is the complaints procedure?  How do terps maintain competency?  So many things to think about!

These presentations were all in BSL and voiced over into English.  This was particularly interesting as I have recently gone on 3 voiceover workshops (run by Deaf Matters), which were probably more useful (in terms of working) than any of my language classes have been.  Anyway, I could see how the professionals worked when doing voiceover and I was able to recognise some of the techniques we were taught on the workshops.

The afternoon consisted of 2 workshops.  One on Visual Language, what is it, how does it differ from BSL, does it have structure etc.  Very interesting discussion but unfortunately my receptive skills failed me at critical points.  Very embarrassing.  There was lots of food for thought offered up in this session and I still haven't come to a conclusion about what visual language is!


The final session of the day was on interpreting English idioms to BSL.  Considering I don't always understand the meaning of the idiom when presented into English, this was a very useful topic as I got to learn things!  The problem with idioms is they are specific to a language and culture, and their literal and figurative meaning is entirely different.  For example, dime a dozen, stuck between a rock and a hard place, drop in the ocean.

It was a very good day and just reinforced to me how much I miss working with Deaf people.  Oh well, I'll get there in the end!

Norfolk County Council's ideas for saving money

OK, I've been gearing up to write this for about a month but haven't quite managed it.  The whole task seems rather daunting and somewhat futile as I have no doubt that they will go ahead with the cuts regardless.  On the other hand, I also believe that it's really really important for people to speak up about things that are wrong.  If you do not voice your opinions about the reduction in public services, how are those making the decision going to know how you feel?  We need to tell them so that the decision, so that all responsibility stemming from that, will be on their head.

This a very long post, but please read it through to the end.

All the ideas and plans that the Council have are detailed in these documents here.  About a  month ago I first heard about the proposed cuts and went to a public meeting.  I had assumed the meeting was held for the Deaf community and was going to be focused on the Sensory Support Unit.  It wasn't, it was a general meeting and was dominated by people, both on the panel and in the audience, who were concerned about the job cuts.  Well, losing up to 3000 jobs is bad, there's no way round that.  But removing so much of the support services around vulnerable people in Norfolk is as bad, if not worse.  Most people at the meeting had no idea about the work of the Sensory Support Unit and no idea what the closure of it would mean to it's users.

I came out of the meeting fairly angry and frustrated.  There will be a march on 4th December throughout Norwich to protest against the cuts, but again, I fear the emphasis will be on job cuts, and not on the support services which we will be losing.  I know it isn't entirely the fault of Norfolk Council, the Conservative* government has told them to expect a £155 million gap in funding in order to help reverse the national deficit.  With an ageing population (you know, the service users) growing, the cuts form central government, inflation and a promise not to increase council tax the Council needs to find ways to save money.

How are they going to do this?
They have come up with various suggestions, put them in various documents and called it the Big Conversation.  A lot of it boils down to withdrawing services and expecting the private sector or volunteers to step in and take over.  Getting people to do jobs for free is really ethical, amirite?

• They are reducing eligibility or services from those with 'substantial' need to those with 'critical' need.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that people categorised as having substantial need could soon move to the critical need list, and that in the long run this will cost them more money.

• They intend to "provide leadership and influence to ensure Norfolk's voice is heard".  What use is this if you are not serving your constituents?  It's a cop out.
• "Commissioning efficient, responsive and cost effective services to meet people's needs" - this means outsourcing to private companies who in all likelihood don't or can't give a stuff about the pastoral care of their clients, because they are in it to make a profit.
• "Supporting, developing & maintain the infrastructure that helps our economy" - How???  Where is the funding for business and employment support that helps boost the economy?  What other services will be lost?
• Signposting people to the services they need and providing information about the services they need - so, that means outsourcing then.
• "Helping & enabling others to build and maintain strong, sustainable and caring communities" - relying on volunteers to do the job they used to do.
• Encouraging people to use their personal budgets to buy care and support for themselves.  These personal budgets are ALREADY being spent on things the recipient needs.  Personal budgets won't increase, so how will it be possible to afford everything?  This seems to me like people are being punished for requiring state aid.
• "People will be paying more towards the real cost of providing the services they receive or
  receiving help and support from others within their neighbourhoods"  Because vulnerable people are known for being rich aren't they?

There's a particularly disgusting section about the meals on wheels service (emphasis mine)-

"Many community and commercial organisations now provide options that give people a choice they
simply didn’t have before. For example, balanced ready meals are now available widely through
supermarkets with delivery options at a greater choice and lower cost than the council can provide through its more limited Meals on Wheels service. Similarly, community based leisure options offer a wide choice of daytime activities. Norfolk is blessed with a vibrant community life and voluntary sector, and strong parish and town councils. So we propose to modernise our services to take account of these changes in society and importantly, make sure we are targeting our services to where there is greatest need."

The Meals on Wheels service does not just provide meals.  They provide human contact, help with preparing the food, checking the person is eating enough and social interaction.  The supermarkets will not do this.  Not everyone has a credit or debit card to buy online.  Not everyone has a bank account.  Not everyone has Internet access to order food, or even know how to use the Internet, let alone afford it.

They talk about the cost of support for children coming into council care:
from ‘critical and substantial’, to ‘critical’ only."

Are we expected to believe that £51,000 is too much to spend on a child?  Note that they are reducing the eligibility to critical for adults only - because to reduce that for children would put them in breach of their statutory obligations.

Here are other costs they have quoted:

"Here are some of the costs we face:
· One fire engine costs £27,000 each year to lease.
· A residential care package for one older person can range between £15,000 and £93,000 a year.
· Providing residential care packages for adults with a learning disability can cost between £16,000 and £206,000 for one adult each year – although the average cost of care is £45,000.
· On average it costs the service £17,368 per year to deliver day care for an adult with a learning disability.
· Average cost of foster care for one child is £550 per week.
· Every tonne of waste that householders bring to our recycling centres costs us £91.
· The cost of subsiding Park & Ride journeys currently costs the council 89p per journey."

I mean seriously, what £27,000 is too much for a fire engine?  That saves lives?  £17,368 is too much to spend on day care for adults?  People providing foster care should do it for even less?

Then there's the bit about wanting to cut the rural bus service - with fewer buses, fewer people will use them, meaning the Council will argue that demand is decreased, so more buses will be cut, and so on and so on.  Meanwhile the infrastructure is disappearing from our villages so to access vital services you have to get into the towns or cities, but now you won;t be able to. Great.  Isolation beckons.

They appear to think that volunteers and members of the family will step in as carers.  They forget that not everybody can care for their family.  Not everyone has family.  Not everyone has the mental, physical or financial resources to help their family (or friends).  What happens to these people, these potential carers?  What happens to those needing care?

They intend to produce an Equality Impact Assessment of the proposals and use this to inform their decision.  This just stinks of bullshit - removing the Sensory Support Unit is obviously going to have an adverse impact on those with visual and hearing disabilities, because they are it's target user group.  If the Council was really interested in equality they wouldn't be proposing the closure of the Unit. 

The proposals state that they will "Reduce the scale and capacity of the sensory support service - We propose to scale back this service so that it meets only statutory requirements. It would mean the work of the current sensory support team would cease and statutory services commissioned through other providers."

At the public meeting the staff said they had already been told their jobs were going.  All of their work is a priority.  The Unit funds other vital services in the area.  It's a bloody disgrace (and really require scary) that it;s being considered for the axe.  I see now they have put up an extra document talking specifically about the Unit, go here and click on the documents tab, then consultation document.  Unfortunately it's in word, but if you need to read it and don't have word email me on paicomics [at] yahoo dot co dot uk and I'll get a pdf (or other) version emailed to you.


In the introduction, it states:

"We propose to reduce the level of services offered by our Sensory Support Service. We propose to do this by meeting only the needs of people who are eligible for social care services as set out by the Fair Access to Care (FACs) criterion. At present, we provide specialist support for people who have sensory support needs, but do not necessarily meet the FACs criterion.

If this proposal is agreed and implemented, we would no longer fund the sensory support team. People who are eligible for services under FACs criterion would continue to receive support services, but from their locality team through self directed support and personal budgets.

This proposal would see savings of approximately £1.06m."

Face to face meetings are being held with the user groups affected, some have already been held but I believe that one is due to take place at the Norwich Deaf Centre on 11th December.

The consultation runs from 26th October 2010 to 10th January 2011.  The Council Cabinet will meet on 24th January to decide what to do.  The full, horrific list of what will get axed is to be found here.  I would list them, but I'm too sickened by the proposals to look at it anymore. The next 4 years of this pissing Tory government are going to be hell on toast..

You know what else I'm sick of?  Mentioning this to hearing people and having them say 'yeah well something has got to be lost to save money, so it's the SSU or something else.'  I don't even have the energy to argue with them about it, if you have no empathy or understanding of how lucky you are to be able bodied in a society which does not value disabilities or people with disabilities, you..well, you annoy me.  And by the way, everyone is gonna be fucked over by these proposals.  The elderly, the young, those with mental health issues, learning difficulties, those with HIV/AIDs, the arts, parents and the museum service.

Fuck I'm depressed.

*OK OK, technically it's a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition.  I place the blame for these ridiculous economic policies at the Tories feet.

Norwich's Sensory Support Unit is at risk of closure

The Unit supports Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind and visually impaired people.
For Deaf and hard of hearing folks they help with:
Transport to the Deaf centre
Equipment for the house (e.g. flashing fire alarms, doorbells etc)
Funding an advocacy and open door service where Deaf people can get help with a wide range of issues
Funding a deaf social worker


They also do a lot of work for people with visual impairments.  It's a bloody disgrace that closure of the unit is even an option.  Information on the proposed budget cuts for Norfolk County Council is to be found here, and I believe it covers the Sensory Support Unit.


If you've got any networks that have an interest in this please let them know that there will be a Public Meeting on Monday November 1st @ 7.00pm at City Hall Norwich.  Thank you.

Learn to Sign week - resources!

So, you've started signing.  You've had a few lessons, you've perhaps met some Deaf BSL users.  You're keen on the language and you want to learn more.  What's next?

Well, there's a whole load of online resources you can use.  Bristol University has the fabulous Centre for Deaf Studies (I blogged about it here) and they have a whole host of resources for you:

Deafstation - for people fluent in BSL, providing daily news and information (in BSL) - if you're just starting to learn and you watch this don't get too worried if you don't understand it all.  You'll get there I promise!
Signstation - For people learning BSL.  It has video, pictures and information about BSL, Deaf people at work and Deaf awareness.  A really useful resource for people at level 1 and level 2.
Mobile Sign - a video dictionary with over 5000 signs.  For people who work with Deaf people, have Deaf customers or want to learn how to sign.  You access the dictionary from a mobile phone phone and download the signs required.
Deafresource - Provides information on the Deaf Community, sign language and Deaf Studies.
VOGS - It provides guides for working with Deaf people covering topics such as using Interpreters, facts about Deaf people and sign language and frequently asked questions.  VOGS means 'Vocational Guidance Standard Model for Deaf People'.


VOGS is more of a professional resource, but have a look round them all and see if you think anything's useful.

But wait! There's more!
Signs of God - Signs for use in a Christian setting
Christain Signs - as above.  There is a Deaf church, would ya believe it.
Science Signs - for a science education

Signhealth - the healthcare charity for deaf people
Forest Books - selling all sorts of books about the Ddeaf and hard of hearing world.  Fiction, academic theories, language books, help for professionals working with Ddeaf people, technology. journals, teaching aids, loads of stuff.  It's fabulous.
Deafread - the best of deaf blogs and vlogs from around the world.


Surrounding Deaf culture, there's the Deaf poet Dorothy Miles, who creates and performs poems in BSL, the Deaf comedian John Smith, performing routines in BSL, and Lee's BSL Songs.

You can also check out my Deaf sites and resources post for more links.

I hope this has all been helpful to you and that you've enjoyed the series.

Learn to Sign week

Hmm, yes I never did finish off those series of posts did I?  Well, let's have a go at finishing them now shall we.

If you are in a workplace or a learning centre (like a school, college or university) where you are likely to work with or alongside a Deaf, deaf or hard of hearing person, you will need to think about your communication methods and whether it's appropriate to bring in additional communication support.
How do you decide this?  You ask the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing person if they want extra support, and what they want.  You do not assume what they need.

Examples of support may be an interpreter or communication support worker, a lipspeaker or a notetaker.  Notetakers can use different types of equipment or different methods to record what is being said.

As for the difference between an interpreter and a communication support worker (csw), well the main difference is qualifications.  Note that qualifications and experience are not the same thing.  I jokingly say that terps are better qualified, better paid and get more respect..but it's not always that way!  CSWs generally work in educational settings whereas terps will work in medical settings, in the workplace, in the courts, loads of places.  When you see someone signing at a conference they may be a terp or a CSW.  At the end of the day we all facilitate communication between the Deaf world and the hearing world.  And we all do our best.

Note: when using terps or csws please remember to look at the Deaf person, and not the terp/csw.  All the terp/csw is doing is interpreting the information, they are not speaking for the Deaf person.

For more information about finding a language service professional you can start by looking at the NRCPD website - National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind people.  You won't find CSWs on there - if you do specifically want a CSW try your local Deaf club who should have information on how to find one.

Where to learn BSL and what to expect

There are a lot of places you can learn BSL.  To locate a course you can contact your local deaf club (google the name of a major town near you and deaf club), look at the adult education prospectus or look on Signature's website for a list of all all accredited training providers.

What can you expect when learning BSL?

Well, typically, you will start by doing a level 1 course and you will learn the basics - fingerspelling, places, things in the house, work vocabulary, colours, weather, holidays, animals, and basic grammar.  You may be taught by a Deaf BSL user or by a hearing person with a good knowledge of BSL.  In the classes you can expect to go over new vocabulary each week, produce stories, and chat with others in your class.  All this should be done in BSL with your voice turned off.

You may then do a bridging course, which will improve your skills to nearer that of a level 2 class.  After that you can take the level 2 qualification, this will build upon your vocabulary learnt in previous courses, expand your knowledge and ability to use BSL grammar, try to move you away from using Sign Supported English (BSL signs produced in English word order), improve your receptive skills and increase your confidence.  It now becomes more important to turn your voice off and to use BSL in each class.  Once you have your level 2 you will be able to hold a conversation with a BSL user.

Once you have achieved your level 2, you need to use your BSL regularly and try to mix with Deaf people in order to improve your productive and receptive skills.  The next stage is a level 3, and typically you will have spent at least one year if not two practicing your skills and using them regularly.  There is a huge jump between the level 2 and level 3 and to help you improve your knowledge you may want to consider doing a pre level 3 course.  This is where I am at now, and I can honestly say that the pre level 3 course I took was invaluable and worth every penny I spent.  Without being in a formal classroom situation you won't realise what bad habits you have picked up and what it is that you don't know.

After you have achieved your level 3, you will definitely have a good handle on the language and be able to explain and communicate complex ideas in BSL, not SSE.  Next up is the level 6 which will take you to interpreter standard.

When you are learning it is important to practice outside the classroom as much as you can.  You can do this with friends on your course, or go to coffee mornings or other practice sessions at your local deaf club.  You may want to go to interpreted theatre performances to improve your receptive skills, or you can watch the BSL interpreted news on BBC news 24 at 8.30 am and 1pm (I think).  See Hear is a good programme about the Deaf Community that is viewable both on BBC 2 and the i-player, if like me you don't watch TV.  Like any other language, it is important to learn about the culture of the people who use BSL as it will help you to understand ideas and structure within the language.

Learn to Sign week

It's Learn to Sign week!  Organised by the BDA (British Deaf Association) there should be lots of stuff going on throughout the country aimed at encouraging people to learn to how to sign.  So, I think I shall be getting in on this and doing a series of posts about BSL (British Sign Language).

The week runs from 4th to the 10th October and you can find out more at the BDA page here.  Approximately 90,000 people have BSL as their first language.  It is a living language evolving as Deaf people use it and it not artifically created.  It is Deaf people's own language and is not devised by hearing people.  Each sign language throughout the world (and there areaas many as there are spoken languages) is distinct and they are not based upon spoken languages.  There is an International Sign language used at international conferences and this is in turn distinct from countries own sign languages.

BSL is not a series of gestures or mime.  It has it's own vocabulary, not all of which can be translated into English, it's own syntax and grammar and it's own rules.  Used fluently, it is incredibly graceful and beautiful to watch.

Yet the UK only officially recognised BSL as a language in 2003.  Seems bizzare huh?  In Scotland there is currently a consultation period occuring that will be used to decide if BSL should be recognised as language in Scotland, (for more information see here).  Scotland is part of the UK but sometimes has different laws, I'm not quite sure how or why this is the case, maybe a reader can enlighten me?

You can read more about the history of BSL here.  Stay tuned this week as I blather more about this.

Where are all the Deaf superheroes?

Both the DCU and the Marvel Universes have quite a lot of superheroes/villains/supporting cast members who are disabled, but fuck all that are Deaf.  Or deaf.  Or hard of hearing.  I'm not picky. 

Peter David put a couple of lipreaders in his Supergirl and Young Justice comics and Green Arrow/Black Canary had that villain last year that was deafened by Dinah, but that's it.  Where are the rest?  We've got Babs in her wheelchair, Chunk, Professor Xavier, Daredevil, Dr Midnight, Speedy/Red Arrow, Tony Stark, Dr Niles Caulder, Captain Marvel Junior, Osiris, Crazy Jane.  I'm sure there's more, that's just what a quick google search turned up.

Where the Deaf heroes?  I'll tell you where there's one - Echo, from the Daredevil comics.  That's it.  I should be able to name more.

Echo first turned up in Parts of a Hole (soon to be reviewed over at New readers...) and I was stunned when the story actually constant reference to her lack of hearing.  Her abilities aren't linked to her Deafness, unlike Daredevil's abilities and so I felt like I did when I read Venus Envy - it's a regular superhero book about a woman who happens to be Deaf.

The book isn't about her Deafhood, but because she is Deaf she experiences life different to a hearing person, and so the story show that.  On the whole it does this well, and it also explores Daredevil's blindness well.  There's a great scene where they are in the cinema and Echo is describing the action on screen and Daredevil is describing the dialogue when the actors are off screen.

But.  (You knew there was a but coming didn't you?)  It isn't quite good enough.  The problem with having just one Deaf hero is that she becomes representative of all Deaf people and the mistakes that are made are amplified and picked upon over and over.

For example, Echo can mimic any physical action she sees.  This makes her an ace fighter.  Luckily for her she's also quite bright and so can work out how to put the moves together in order to win a fight or choreograph a dance show.  I imagine that being able to mimic physical actions must have made it easier for her to learn the handshapes and movements needed for American Sign Language (ASL).

But, this ability is used in book to explain why her speech is not slurred.  Because she can copy mouth patterns I suppose... Wait.  Just back up there one moment, what?  Most speech isn't formed on the lips.  Lip reading is hard, very hard.  If it was easy to lip read everybody we wouldn't need trained lipspeakers.  How on earth is Echo meant to see and mimic the movements of the tongue and the throat in order to produce clear speech?

Ignoring all that, the in text reasoning seems to assume that no Deaf people have clear speech.   Well, quite frankly that's bollocks.  The level of speech will depend on things like when the person lost their hearing and what speech therapy they've had.  Ooh it makes me angry when people get basic stuff wrong.

What else, oh yes, how she learnt ASL.  Apparently her father taught it to her using Native American folk stories, and possibly shadow puppets.  Well I'd be really interested to know where he learnt it and how she developed her knowledge of the language.  Because we see nothing of this in the book, she doesn't sign once.  I don't think I've met a signer who never signs when they speak.  When a sign language is your first language you tend to use it alongside your spoken language.  You just do.

Echo somehow manages to lipread people in the dark and never makes a mistake when she is lipreading.  The former is impossible and the latter is highly unlikely.  But, I guess if you had a book full of communication errors it would get a bit dull and prevent the flow of the story.  For the same reason we don't tend to see protagonists going to the toilet.  So I'll forgive them the perfect lipreading.  The rest isn't really forgivable, it's just ignorant.

This is such a shame because it's clear that the writer has done his research - there is so much stuff in the book that is Deaf aware.  It becomes an odd half and half mix.  I'm very keen to read more about her and I just hope that other issue build upon the solid base that this book gave, but improved the rookie errors.

And I want more Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing heroes.  Please.

Incidentally, Echo's sign name would either be the sign for Echo, a handprint across the face (she wears this when she performs), or possibly dancer.  Daredevil's sign name would be the devil horns on his costume.  Matt Murdock (Daredevil's civilian identity) would be lawyer I reckon.  His partner Foggy Nelson's sign name would be Fog.

Link time!

Because I haven't thought of a real post, have some links:

Snell over at Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep! talking about how the comic industry should respect itself.

A take down of rape jokes and rape culture over at Shakesville.

A comic editor's response to an 8 yr old fan's upset at Jason Todd death, from Ragnell's tumblr.

A mash up of Van Halen's Jump and The Beatle's Imagine.

Zoe Williams talking about the stupidity of ruling that sex whilst HIV positive is a crime.

Kat Banyard on feminism.

OUT140 - telling your coming out stories in 14o characters or less.

A bloody fantastic American Sign Language interpretation of Marilyn Manson's The New Shit.   He's done it like a music video and it's amazing.

Comics!

This batch of comics have been more inspiring, in terms of reviewing them, than others have been for a while.  Covering Superman/Batman 75, Green Arrow 3, Gotham City Sirens 15, Wonder Woman 602 and Daredevil 55.  Here goes nothing..
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Superman/Batman 75
Eh look, the Legion didn't piss me off.  And then there's a scene where Batman is mopping Superman's brow.  Because Superman has kryptonite poisoning.  Bruce is getting more tender, dammit!  That is actually a very adorable scene.
The rest of the book is 2 page stories where the creators seem to be letting rip and having lots of fun - this is what Superman/Batman should be.  The rest of the DCU can go to a dark and dank hell but this book should be fun.  There's a parody of the floppy format by Steven T Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen (them who did It's a bird...) which I really wasn't expecting as this was touted as a sequal to It's a Bird.
The Con story was great - there are 2 kids, each dressed as Superman and Batman, and they start hassling a guy dressed as the Joker, concluding with plans to launch a groin attackk!!! then they spy  Catwoman and her reactions is just priceless.

Adam Hughes does a wodnerful spread of Batgirl and Supergirl - he gives Kara a lovely face,  which looks similar to Helen Slater.
Friendly Advice is Tim and Dick and Con and Kal talking about the Cass/Con/Tim love triangle.  Dick is teasing Tim something chronic.
And the most unexpected story - a continuation of the chibli story arc from Superman/Batman 51 and 52, where we find out that tiny Superman isn't really dead, he's just sleeping!  awwyeah!
Krypto vs Ace.  Nuff said.

Then some odd stories - Joker vs Lex done Calvin and Hobbes style, Batman/Superman as a grown up Connor/Damian, and a weird story about a kid and his dad.

But the rest were ace.

Green Arrow 3
This is bewildering.  Ollie was brought back to life by the mystic wood (i'm trying to work in a bush joke here) and a knight named Galahad.  Yes that Galahad.  I think I liked it.

Gotham City Sirens 15
Aww this was all about Harley and Ivy. One of ma favourite female friendships in comics.  Aww.  Selina's in it too, but this is really def all about Harley and Ivy.

Wonder Woman 602
Diana startsher trials to earn the mantle of Wonder Woman.  She take soff her jacket and reveals some strappy gold bits to the bustier which some people reckon is gonna be her lasso.  I like the strappy bits.  I also liked the sacrifices angle, them pesky Gods, wanting you to prove your faith in blood.  I'm a little unclear where Diana got that sword from, but I think this goes to prove you shouldn't piss off an Amazon.

Daredevil 55
You are correct, this isnt usually on my pull list and is in fact quite an old title.  I got it cos I'm trying to locate soem Echo stories - she's a Deaf girl in the Marvel universe.  This is the start of a story arc named Vision Quest and is by David Mack, so the art is all painted and the way it;s put together it kind of looks more like a  collage than a regular comic book.  I suspect I'd get more out of it with the whole arc but it was an OK read.  Her Deafness is integral to her experience and came up regularly throughout the issue so that was good.


Hey, it's poll time!

Dering Employment Services in administration

News found here.

Dering provided employment support to anyone in the UK with a hearing loss of difficulty, e.g. Deaf, hard of hearing and Deafblind folks.  And now they've gone into administration.  Rumours are flying around about cashflow problems forcing them to close, but who knows what the full story is.

I have had the privilege to meet some of Dering's staff and I can assure you that they delivered a superb service that was well respected and held in high esteem by their service users.  Now the (mostly Deaf) staff are on garden leave and out of a job.  That's a horrible situation to be in.
Now that Dering itself is closed their Ddeaf clients are gonna have a lot more difficulty finding jobs, because mainstream employment support provision is simply not good enough for most Deaf people.

At The Rim has also covered this, and I expect by the time of posting this will be all over the Deaf Read bloglist.

This is a sad day.

One course over, let the free time begin!

On Saturday I finished my pre level 3 in British Sign Language.  There was no exam, but we did have to do a presentation on something linked to Deaf culture.  I chose to do my presentation on the Centre for Deaf Studies at Bristol University, and the closure of the Deaf Studies course.

So, in order to make an easy blog post, here's the text of the presentation:

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• Centre for Deaf Studies (CDS) is part of Bristol University
• CDS opened in 1978
• It was the first academic insitution to focus on research and education to benefit the deaf community
• Most of the staff are Deaf and all can sign

 Mission statement

• To develop Deaf Studies in ways that benefit Deaf people and promote their inclusion in and contribution to society.
• To increase hearing people's understanding of what it means to be Deaf.
• The Centre's work focuses on adjusting to Deafness and hearing loss, not the prevention or cure of hearing difficulties.
• To establish Deaf Studies as a valid subject and a worthy field of research.

CDS works in 3 main areas:

• Research of Deaf Studies
• Teaching programmes in Deaf Studies
• Deaf programmes including information and consultancy and the provision of short courses and dissemination of information

Research in conducted in 5 main areas:

• Sign language and sign linguistics
• Sign language acquistion
• Deaf community, Deaf culture and Deafhood
• Cognition, mental health and education
• Video telecommunication, video information and e-learning

CDS has a list of firsts:

• It conducted the first funded research on sign language in the UK
• It offered the first full time training programme for Interpreters
• It offered the first BSC and MSC in Deaf Studies in the UK
• It offered the first University training programme for Deaf people, taught in BSL

Resources

The Centre has developed a wide range of resources for both Deaf and hearing people.

• Deafstation - for people fluent in BSL.  It provides daily news and information in BSL.

www.deafstation.org

• Signstation - For people learning BSL.  It has video, pictures and information about BSL, Deaf people at work and Deaf awareness.

www.signstation.org

• Mobile Sign - a video dictionary with over 5000 signs.  For people who work with Deaf people, have Deaf customers or want to learn how to sign.  You access the dictionary from a mobile phone phone and download the signs required.

 www.mobilesign.org

• Deafresource - Provides information on the Deaf Community, sign language and Deaf Studies.

www.deafresource.com

• VOGS - It provides guides for working with Deaf people covering topics such as using Intepreters, facts about Deaf people and sign language and frequently asked questions.  VOGS means 'Vocational Guidance Standard Model for Deaf People'.

http://www.deafstation.org/vogs

Future of CDS

• In May 2010 the decision was made to close the Deaf Studies course.
• Lack of financial viability and academic quality were the reasons given for closing the course.
• The last intake will be in October 2010 with the final students leaving in 2013.
• 75% of staff face job cuts, many of these will be Deaf.

For more information visit www.savedeafstudies.org.uk

Now, isn't it a damn shame they are closing the course?

Brightest Day and Bristol Uni

I've been wasting far too much time on twitter and not enough time blogging.  I was going to write somethign about Brightest Day and tokenism but I've wasted too much time on Twitter.  On the whole, I liked Brightest Day, altho owning a White Power ring is now making me really embaressed.  If you're not sure what I'm on about, go check out WFA's links roundup.

News on Bristol Univeristy's proposed closure of the Deaf Studies degree.  Basically they've postponed the final decision, as they want to have a committe discussion about redundancies first.  Altho it now seems the whole department is being considered for closure, not just the Deaf Studies course.  I was chatting to someone today who's sister is at Bristol, doing the second year of her Deaf Studies course.  Apparently she may have to go to Wolverhampton to do the final year.

Thanks to all who have signed the campaign's petition and/or forwarded the links.