Hearing in a Deaf World

Available for over a year

A five-part series of essays that explores what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain. Each essayist has their own personal experience and take on what being part of the deaf community means to them. Some share the little-known divisions and politics of the deaf community and others share what makes the community so special and unique to the point where some deaf people consider themselves as a linguistic minority rather than disabled. Sign Language Interpreter Sandy Deo looks back at her cultural heritage and considers the realities, privileges and responsibilities of growing up as a child of a deaf adult. She talks frankly about how she knew council and banking details from a young age because she had to interpret for her Mum but how this was an advantage as it meant that she was reading Matilda at the age of six. Sandy tells funny anecdotes of how she and her siblings would take advantage of having a deaf mum but also talks honestly about the realities of having to interpret for her mum at family events, as other members didn’t know how to sign, and how being her Mum’s ears means she now can’t sleep deeply because of years of training to listen out for any odd noises in the house. But Sandy ends the essay on how being a child of a deaf parent is an identity that she’ll proudly own as the experience has instilled in her a drive to fight for, and to stand up for, those who perhaps need a louder voice. My Deaf World is produced by Camilla Arnold and Sophie Allen with Mark Rickards as Executive Producer. It is a Flashing Lights Media production for BBC Radio 3. A British Sign Language version was filmed, edited and subtitled by Fifi Garfield.