4 stories for Deaf Awareness Week 4th-9th May and the 175th anniversary of Manchester Deaf Centre

For immediate use. Click on the list below to jump to each story:

1
Ava, 14, wins the popular vote at the Harris Open exhibition 2021
A Deaf, blind, wheelchair using digital artist beats 250 artists to win the popular vote in an open exhibition with votes from across the world.
2
Lockdown life for Deaf people – making a breakthrough
A nervous Deaf guy overcomes his isolation and fear of technology with support from staff at Manchester Deaf Centre – with nice quotes.
3
Dr Jorge is celebrating 175 years of the Manchester Deaf Centre by running 1,075km in 2021!
I75 years history of supporting Deaf people is worth celebrating – and running over a thousand km for!?
4
How is British Sign Language very different from English?
A nicely written and simple think piece revealing the nature of British Sign Language and how it is actually a completely different language to English.

Download numbered photos to match the stories here
Please ask if you need anything else, and if you can spare a moment to let us know if you do use something that would be great.
Contact: John Hesketh (Centre Manager) Direct number: 0161-276-9335.
Email: johnhesketh@manchesterdeafcentre.com (These contact details not for publication)
Many thanks

Story 1
Ava, 14, wins the popular vote at the Harris Open exhibition 2021

14-year-old digital artist Ava Jolliffe, who is registered deaf and blind and a wheelchair user, has smashed it to come out Popular Vote Winner at the Harris Open 2021, winning from 250 artists, with 1700 votes being cast from as far afield as New Zealand!

Ava grew up drawing by hand, but now makes digital versions by working up close to a zoomed-in iPad, and her pictures are then printed onto canvas for exhibition. She makes art for herself, takes commissions and hopes to design children’s books and collaborate on fashion and beyond.

Ava is a member of Manchester Deaf Centre’s DAVE group (Deaf Active Volunteer Experience)

DAVE is aimed at 14-25yrs and has been designed to meet the needs of young Deaf people who are approaching a transitional stage in their lives. It provides them with the knowledge and skills needed to function in a predominantly hearing society; raising their aspirations and expectations and assisting in their growth, independence and development.

Manchester Deaf Centre’s Youth Service helps young Deaf people like Ava grow the confidence and self-belief they need to secure future internships, volunteer roles and employment, whilst also providing them with a weekly opportunity to have fun, engage and socialise with their Deaf peers.

Ava is available for interview.
To get in touch and find out more go to:
https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/
To support Manchester Deaf Centre’s work with a donation, go to:
https://manchesterdeafcentre.enthuse.com/#!/

Story 1 ends

Story 2:

Lockdown life for Deaf people – making a breakthrough

Lockdown has been particularly hard for the Deaf community, with the extra difficulty in communication with mask wearers, and struggles with unfamiliar technology. Imran found the help offered by Manchester Deaf Centre (MDC) very useful, and he talked about overcoming his fears and joining in with Pathways2Work (with Breakthrough UK) via Zoom.

“Initially I thought, I don’t really want to do this……I felt pressured, uncomfortable and panicked. I thought to myself, if I decided not to take part and give up now, have I lost an opportunity that may not be offered again in the future?

I told myself that I have to carry on. I got involved with the Breakthrough sessions, I met the staff with an interpreter there, every week for 5 weeks. At first, I was very stiff and found it hard to get in to but then I got used to it.”

Imran joined the MDC Wellbeing group, which helps Deaf and hard of hearing people improve self-confidence and try new activities that can support positive well-being and health. It is also a great place to meet new people and socialise. During lockdown this happened on Zoom.

“When I joined the Deaf Wellbeing Group for the first time, I was quite taken back to see all the other Deaf people on Zoom, it took a bit of getting used and afterwards I felt completely different. I felt positive and it felt good to be a part of because of lockdown and having not being allowed to meet others.

I realised that Zoom has been worth it and very useful in both the Breakthrough and the Wellbeing sessions. Now that they have both finished, I feel completely different, I feel positive, my mood has been lifted, and I realised I had a connection to the Deaf community and that it was something special that I could experience with the use of technology. I know you can read bits of information here and there, but I would have completely missed the information from the Deaf community and the staff at the Deaf Centre. I realise now how worthwhile it has all been.”

Manchester Deaf Centre is now open again for a variety of activities, training and services. To get in touch and find out more go to:
https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/
To support Manchester Deaf Centre’s work with a donation, go to:
https://manchesterdeafcentre.enthuse.com/#!/

Story 2 ends

Story 3

Dr Jorge is celebrating 175 years of the Manchester Deaf Centre by running 1,075km in 2021!

Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez teaches law at ManchesterMetropolitan University and writes books on international law – but his task for Manchester Deaf Centre is simpler: to run 1075km in 2021 to celebrate the Centre’s 175th anniversary. He has learned British Sign Language and worked with Deaf young people there – and now hopes to raise money for equipment and interesting experiences for young people. He says:

“I believe in enabling people. At MDC that’s exactly what we do! After all, we are all differently abled and it’s because of our own individual gift we can help others be their best.”

Manchester Deaf Centre hopes to use donations to help develop the open courtyard at its Crawford House, Booth St East premises to be a welcoming, Covid-safe space, with seating for groups and a sheltered area. Planters will enable young people to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs which they can then enjoy eating in a barbecue area, with a sensory area for peace in the bustle of the city.

Manchester Deaf Institute was established in January 1846, moving to the Deaf Institute Building on Grosvenor St (now a popular music venue) in 1877, before moving in 1974 to its current location, becoming known as Manchester Deaf Centre in 1990. MDC manager John Hesketh says:

“Building on generations of work with Deaf and hard of hearing people, we are delighted that Manchester Deaf Centre is now again open for face-to-face contact after very trying times for the Deaf community, who have been particularly affected by isolation and the difficulty that mask wearing adds to communication.

MDC offers many kinds of services for all ages, including the arts, advocacy and well-being, training in British Sign Language and preparation for employment. For example, Gavin was supported to apply for a job and interview via video-chat.

“During my interview, I was very worried because as a hard of hearing person, I knew I would struggle but, thank you to Anna at MDC who supported me all the way. Anna was very helpful, encouraged me and built my confidence for the interview. I hate interviews myself but with her support I felt 100% better and stronger in confidence. Thank you to all MDC staff for letting me use their facilities such as a laptop for the interview, making phone calls for me and so much more. So, with that in mind, I’m pleased to finally announce (after 5 long months!), that I’ll be leaving for Germany, to start a new career.”

To support Manchester Deaf Centre’s work with a donation, go to:
https://manchesterdeafcentre.enthuse.com/#!/
To get in touch and find out more go to:
https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/

Story 3 ends

Story 4

How is British Sign Language very different from English?

By Sarah Warburton, MDC staff member

“Deaf people can’t hear but it’s fine because they can still write and read English, right?”… Actually it’s wrong; or at least sometimes wrong. But it’s a common misconception, so read on if you feel puzzled.

Deaf people are not all the same: there are different levels of deafness on a spectrum from mild to profound; some people are born deaf whereas others acquire deafness later in life; and there is a wide variety of communication preferences among deaf and hard of hearing individuals.

People with severe or profound deafness are more likely to use British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate.

Now, most hearing people are aware of BSL – you’ll have seen ‘the signer’ on TV. However, what hearing people usually don’t realise is that BSL is a different language to English. Different in that it has its own structure, grammar, and as a visual language it has its own unique ways of expressing concepts and meaning: ways which don’t exist in English.

Here’s a simple example of different word order:

English: Do you prefer beer or wine?
BSL: Beer, wine, prefer you which?

And here’s an example of BSL’s unique way of expressing meaning:

Take the sentence ‘a large group of people have been coming to meet here for a very long time’. That’s 16 words and several grammatical rules in English. I once saw a colleague express this beautifully in BSL in just the time it takes me to say ‘a large group’. She used just one signed movement rather than 16 signs strung together into a sentence. Her signed movement had a lot to it though…she was using a mixture of handshape (both hands with fingers outstretched, pointing upwards and palms facing towards each other – this indicated the group of people), movement and direction (the right hand started above her right shoulder and moved forward and across the body to meet the left hand – this expressed ‘the people coming to meet together’ as well as the timeline i.e. starting in the past and continuing into the present day), and facial expression (this is difficult to describe in writing, but a BSL user would recognise the expression as suggesting ‘many’ or a ‘lot’ – here it added emphasis to the timeline, conveying the meaning of ‘a long number of years’).

English language levels vary within the Deaf community. The reason is that for many Deaf people who use BSL as their primary means of communication, English is a second language. It makes reading and writing in English more difficult.

I learnt some French at school but I wouldn’t expect to fully understand a company website or a medical information leaflet in written French. It’s the same for many BSL users, for whom websites, leaflets and other written information sources are not fully accessible due to the language barrier.

‘Writing things down’ for a Deaf person may be inadequate, and a BSL–English communication professional is the only way to ensure that a BSL user’s communication needs are adequately met in many settings. The ‘signer’ that you have seen on TV is a highly qualified BSL–English Interpreter, who is trained to facilitate communication between Deaf and hearing people. They are specialist in interpreting meaning between a visual language and a spoken/written language, which requires an added layer of linguistic bridging not found in interpreting between two spoken/written languages.

Manchester Deaf Centre provides a booking service for BSL–English interpreters and translators, lipspeakers, electronic note takers and other communication professionals. We only provide fully qualified, experienced interpreters suited to the booking request. For more information, please visit our website:

https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/services/booking-an-interpreter/

To learn British Sign Language, visit:
https://www.manchesterdeafcentre.com/services/bsl-courses/
To support Manchester Deaf Centre’s work with a donation, go to:
https://manchesterdeafcentre.enthuse.com/#!/

Story 4 Ends.

Contact: John Hesketh (Centre Manager) Direct number: 0161-276-9335.
Email: johnhesketh@manchesterdeafcentre.com (These contact details not for publication)