We were moved and saddened by the Channel 4 programme "999 What's Your Emergency" which was aired on Thursday the 21st of July 2016, featuring Stuart, who was being targeted and hounded because of his deafness. http://bit.ly/2auFS76 Although he was eventually able to move home to a safer area nearer family and friends with the help of Social Services, it was disappointing to see that the Police did not attend with a Sign Language Interpreter, and instructed him to call 999 if he had further trouble – something Stuart, being Deaf, is unable to do. So what is open to Deaf people in an emergency? Providing you have a mobile phone, you can use the facility of an emergency text service - the
Did you know that the deafness rate among children born with HIV is much higher than those without? A 2012 study in America found that children who had contracted HIV before birth were three or four times more likely than their peers to suffer hearing loss before the age of 16. The world’s highest rate of HIV occurs in Swaziland. There are 19,300 deaf children in this tiny African country – compared to 45,000 deaf children in the UK, which has a population more than 50 times the size. Ngcebo Mbuli who heads up a team for the Bible Society in Swaziland says “more people are becoming deaf in childhood. Many deaf people also have sight problems, they end up being illiterate, and they feel discr
Why are you an ASL Interpreter? I am an ASL Interpreter because Sign Language has always been my passion since I was 6 years old when I first saw it demonstrated by Linda on Sesame Street. I was fascinated that this lady was using her hands to say something and this guy (Bob), was giving voice to that. In my mind there was nothing more fascinating than this and this became my sole reason for watching the show. The following year my aunt invited me to a church that had a Deaf Ministry where I got to see what I would learn were interpreters and Deaf people for the first time. It is at this church that I completed courses in Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced sign language classes, and by
Spurred on by research which tells us that poor access to primary care means that deaf people have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, the Signly team has been very focused these past few weeks on the Health sector. We think that Signly can have an impact, and perhaps even a significant impact on addressing this problem, by converting essential information into BSL. At conferences, exhibitions and other networking events and meetings, we’ve been talking with health organisations at national, regional and local level, ranging from Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Scotland, to our own doctor’s surgeries about how Signly can improve co
