DDYC My Deaf Story

All the latest news from DEXperience.

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'My Deaf Story' Project
Discovering our deaf culture, identity and heritage

A warm welcome to our third newsletter from Deaf Ex-mainstreamers Group (DEX).

The drama 'My Deaf Story' written and performed by the DEX Deaf Youth Council - a great success

Remember, remember the 19^th November 2016!

What an amazing performance from the DEX Deaf Youth Council and everyone who is involved in the play, from actors themselves, to the Treasurer and DEX Board and Steve Gibson Project Manager, wardrobe assistant, and Frank Essery Director and Mickey Fellowes Producer, John Smith, Charlie Swinbourne, John Hay of the British Deaf History Society, Wayne Richards, Terry Harton....with the Heritage Lottery and Young Lives's support it is a long list of incredible people who are committed to BSL and the Deaf community's survival.

There was really good feedback from everyone in the audience, and people who did not see it have heard how good it is. Many said it was an emotional play and made hearing people more aware. Here are a few of them:

“To all the actors who performed last night, you were all excellent. And everyone involved in making the show, it was brilliant. Thank you for the lovely evening entertainment and the crazy comedian John Smith is hilarious.”

“Big ups to all the cast, helpers and Jill!”

“Such a fab performance last night, guys and gals. So thought provoking and such a wonderful cast. Well done everyone behind the scenes too.”

The actors said that they were nervous but remembered all their lines and could see that the audience loved it. They agreed it was a great experience and felt proud of themselves.

The Team

Steve Gibson - our Project Manager for 'My Deaf Story' project

Jill Jones - oversees the HLF project

David Leach - Treasurer for HLF project

Georgina Brown - Volunteer: Photographer

The makeup and costumes were really good, with thanks to West Yorkshire Playhouse which hired the costumes and Wakefield College for the use of the Mechanics Theatre. Also thanks to Charlie Swinbourne, playwright and blogger, Mickey Fellowes, Acting Facilitator and Producer, and Frank Essery, the

Director of the play – all deaf experts who helped to make the My Deaf Story fantastic!

To celebrate the success of the My Deaf Story play, DEX Deaf Youth Council members who acted and produced the play had a party.... our modern dayD EXie Banquet like the ones held to celebrate the birth of the Abbe de

L'Epee from 1834 in Paris, which were featured in our play! There was much fun to be had and some passionate speeches too...

‘My Deaf Story’ DVD of the play now available

We are pleased to announce there are DVD copies of ‘My Deaf Story’ play with subtitles. The DVDs are available at £10 each. To order your copy, please contact Jill Jones or order from our website.

Local Offer filming with Giles Bowman

Our first DEX Deaf Youth Council workshop of the New Year was held with Giles Bowman, Director of Speechless Productions, leading on the subject of film-making - and all members obviously happy to see each other!

The aim is that the DDYC members make two short films for local authorities’ Local Offer website pages in Yorkshire. One video will be for parents of deaf young children, and

one for deaf young people in mainstream education to explain the benefits of bilingualism in English and BSL.

At the same time DDYC members will learn about video making on mobile phones, etc. We also looked at writing the storyboard on how to make the most impact in the short films.

Several DDYC members created their own video films using their smartphones. Their films were shown and critically examined. Giles thought they all were very well made considering that for many it was their first time. Next, Giles explained how the use of lighting could make a difference to video quality. He demonstrated Key, Fill and Back lighting techniques.

As a practical exercise, Giles with the help from DDYC members made a short video wishing an absent member a Happy 21st Birthday. The

video came out brilliantly with snazzy and eye catching clips.

Deaf young people discussed on Data Allowance Limit in smartphones and the supplementary WIFI and remote cloud storage such as Google Drive and iCloud.

Finally with a script for the Local offer

video to inform hearing parents with a deaf child on the need to consider using sign language as an extra language, Giles introduced storyboards.

We all worked hard together on shooting two Local Offer videos - one to inform hearing parents with a deaf child on the need to consider British Sign Language and the other to tell deaf children and adults in mainstream schools that it's fine to be Deaf.

Giles prepared the filming location with a green background, the lighting, the camera set up and the sounds. Laura Marsh-Jones came as a volunteer to be the 'mum' in the first video. Big thanks to her.

A moment of truth came for some Deaf young people to BSL sign to

the camera on their thoughts and experiences in mainstream education. They all did very well!

Finally, two scenarios were filmed to show the case why efforts should be made to ensure deaf pupils in mainstream schools should get together as to promote deaf identity.

Below are the two videos created for Local Offer websites in Yorkshire.

First video for hearing parents of deaf young children.

Second video for deaf young people in mainstream education.

DEX Board is rightly proud of its deaf young people for their hard work, contributions and with their BSL signing for the Local Offer videos. Didn't they all ever do so well?

Cookery workshop with Deaf Puck Chef – Scott Garthwaite

On Saturday 1st July 2017, a great time was held by 12 DDYC members at the ‘Get Cooking’ workshop in Leeds led by The Deaf Punk Chef,

Scott Garthwaite. Big thanks to Zara Emery for setting the workshop off in contacting the chef and finding a suitable workshop centre.

Throughout the day, inspired by the Deaf Punk Chef, the DDYC members tried their hands on cooking Teriyaki Lamb Skewers with home-made chapatti. For the lamb dish, they had to blowtorch red/green peppers and it was certainly a new experience for them! Many of them

did not found baking the chapatti easy and some had to throw their chapattis away after burning them on the frying pans!

At the end, they all ate what they cooked and they all were satisfied with their dishes!

To our eyes, it was very gratifying to have The Deaf Punk Chef on hand to inspire the deaf young people on their cooking skills in British Sign Language. It did make an enormous difference. DDYC believes in having Deaf role models.

Adventure Trip to Marrick Priory – 7^th to 9^th August 2017

On Monday 7^th August 2017, 14 young Deaf people visited Marrick Priory Adventure Centre in Yorkshire Dales and stayed for two nights. Three Deaf DEX leaders

accompanied them alongside with two Deaf Outdoors instructors, Hannah Atkinson and Giles Bowman. Hannah and Giles worked with the Marrick Priory instructors to ensure all the young Deaf people took part safely and with confidence in all the activities provided.

Big thanks are due to Jim, Head of Marrick Priory, Andy, the Deputy, and their other 5 instructors.

They all had a great time and during the stay, they tried out many activities -
High Ropes, Archery, Zip Wire, Canoeing, Orienteering and Team Building. On the first night, we had a camp fire and on the second evening, we had a 30 minute talk

from Giles Bowman on his climbing experiences followed by a quiz game.

The weather was good on the first day and it poured on the second day but still we didn't let the rain put us off!

On the last day, before returning home, we visited Richmond to explore the castle and sample the local ice creams.

This trip was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other more. We all had a wonderful time and brought home many positive memories.

Throughout the stay, countless photographs and a number of videos were taken. Here are a small section of images. Enjoy looking at them!

Take a look at our brand new DEX website!

We have some fantastic news to share with you. We recently launched a brand new website with all up to date content, new layout and easier navigation experience. Do take a look and let us know what you think of our new DEX website!
We always welcome feedback!

End of ‘My Deaf Story’ project - September 2015 to September 2017

‘My Deaf Story’ is sadly coming to an end this month. It has been an amazing 25 months learning about our Deaf culture, meeting famous Deaf people, going out on various trips and most of all, having a greater sense of Deaf identity.

Citizenship course

We are delighted to announce that DEX has recently secured funding for a new project with DEX Deaf Youth Council.

Our new project is about Citizenship, which will start in September 2017 and it will run for one year, ending in August 2018. Citizenship education will be about encouraging young deaf people to become active, knowledgeable and caring citizens in the whole society. This free ASDAN Citizenship short course will cover topics like ‘Rights and Responsibilities’, ‘Work and Finance’ ‘Global Citizenship’ and the ‘BSL Act’ to name a few.

Deaf trainers and facilitators will be delivering the course in BSL. Dr Steve Emery, from Heriot-Watt University, will lead some workshops along with guest presenters.

If you are 17 to 30 years of age, live within travelling distance to Wakefield, and interested to learn more about being a Deaf citizenship, please come along and join our friendly group of Deaf young people.

Please register your interest with Jill Jones.

We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter.

Best wishes from all of us at DDYC,

Jawaad, Sohaib, Suzanne, Leah, Falak, Joel, Zohaib, Ali, Junior, Arooj, Shamas, Zara, Sheryaar, Haider, Aquib, Stephen, Adrian, Andrew, Sufian, Matthew and Aliko.

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We are always looking for new people to join DDYC and you will be very welcome.
If you are deaf, age 17 – 30 and live anywhere
in Yorkshire, please come and join us.
To join, please contact Jill Jones
or text 07786 39 03 15.