Apple For The Teacher?

British Sign Language (BSL) classes should be free for people with hearing loss

It’s taken far too long, but Sue finally started a stage 1 British Sign Language (BSL) course last week.

Ironically, after four years of failing to find a college which succeeded in running a course that was intended for deaf people, Sue’s attending a course at the college where we started. Regrettably I’m not taking the class, we simply can’t afford the fee for me, our plan is that Sue will teach me what she learns each week. After week one I can give my name, ask someone else’s name and do the same with where I live. I’ve also got a few other helpful words.

We’re not naive, it won’t be easy and some weeks we’ll both be too fed up to do teacher/pupil stuff – shame on you, I don’t mean us dressing up with me being the naughty (overweight, white haired and bearded) school boy! Wow, that put me off my breakfast, at last a diet that works. No, the course will become harder as Sue (and I) progress, but we’ll stick with it.

Apart from Sue there seems to be only two other hearing impaired people in the class, and one of them is the tutor. Most students are learning for their work with the majority from the teaching community. This has been the way with all the other (and there have been lots) classes we’ve explored which prompts a genuine question – where do deaf folk learn BSL and, come to that, are there enough deaf signers to speak with all the hearing signers or do the hearing just practice with each other?

I’m feeling grumpy this morning, in my opinion BSL and lip reading should be provided free to anyone needs them due to impaired hearing. Yet again we have deafness as the invisible disability.