Deaflympics

    Unless you've been living under a rock - and on Mars - you’ll have heard of the Olympics. Of course you have, especially if – like me – you live in the UK, where the 2012 Summer Olympics are due to be held. The media is full of stories about it; from the cost to the opening and closing ceremonies and - oh yes, the actual athletes.

    You may not, however, have heard of the Deaflympics. These are the Olympics for the international Deaf community and are the second-oldest multiple sports events after the Olympic Games, yet I hadn’t even heard of them until a couple of weeks ago. I was amazed to discover that the Deaflympics have been hosted by a huge variety of European and eastern countries – including once in London, back in 1935.

    I would have thought that this sort of sporting event would have been more widely reported and known about, because our own, home-grown athletes take part and represent our country on the international stage - but I've never seen a mention of it in the mainstream press.

    I first discovered the Deaflympics from a Deaf news site that I’m signed up to, where it was talking about the controversies over the 2011 Winter Deaflympics in Slovakia. They’ve been cancelled because of the local organising committee’s (LOC) lack of preparation and financial stability – slightly concerning, some might say, considering they’d had a couple of years to prepare for the event.

    The reason I’m writing about it is because of the disparity I’ve noticed in the “newsworthiness” of this story. If this had been the main Olympic Games, there would have been uproar from across society that the LOC had been able to fudge the issue for so long and pretend that things were financially secure when in fact they were badly lacking in funding. The newspapers would undoubtedly be calling for someone’s head and the government would surely have got involved to reassure the country’s athletes.

    Have you heard anything about the Deaflympics in the press, or about how this affects the Deaf British athletes who were due to fly to Slovakia and represent our country? I know I haven’t.

    I’m starting to appreciate how Deaf people must often feel in the wider hearing world; sidelined to such a degree that they needed to set up their own Olympics in order to participate in international sports, and then for the hearing world to largely ignore the triumphs of our Deaf athletes and the failures to get enough funding to allow this year’s Winter Olympics to go ahead.

    The 22^nd Summer Deaflympics are taking place in Athens in 2013; I’m going to be watching out for them and following them as best I can, although I have my doubts as to whether the media will pick up too much coverage. I’ll be supporting the British athletes at the event – and wherever you’re from, I suggest you do the same to your own nation’s sportsmen and women. They deserve our support and our respect – let’s give the Deaflympics the support it deserves!

A Deaf Pub Visit

    Today has held another "first" for me in my deaf ... education, I guess you could call it. I went to a Deaf pub for the first time.


    It's not, as the name might suggest, a pub purely for Deaf people, but a place where Deaf (and hearing) people can meet, knowing that they'll be in place where they talk with other people who can sign and enjoy a night out without being in a minority.


    I hadn't realised until recently how common these Deaf pub nights were throughout the country, and certainly in east Kent. Three Saturdays in every month have pub nights in different towns as well as Margate's night on a Wednesday in the local Weatherspoons. My friend (who I learn BSL with) and I were desperate to go along and see what it was all about.


    I won't deny it; I was nervous. I've mentioned on here before about the time I was with a group of Deaf people and they laughed at a joke I didn't understand - and I immediately felt self-conscious. Tonight I was with an even bigger group of Deaf people and, although I didn't feel self-conscious per se, I was well aware of my limitations in signing - but quickly found out welcoming Deaf people can be.


    The concept of the Deaf pub is a popular one amongst the Deaf community. Tonight, I met a guy and his girlfriend who had travelled from London specifically to meet up with friends, and another guy who I know from my BSL class had travelled over from Whitstable. Deaf pubs are big, popular occasions - and I was glad to be welcomed in like an old friend.


    I was conscious of my limited BSL knowledge, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Thankfully, all the Deaf people I spoke too didn't seem phased by my slow signing that took me twice as long!
    There's as much variety in the Deaf world as there is in the hearing world, of course, and individual Deaf people can easier or harder to follow in the same way that, when I talk fast (as I am wont to do!), I must be difficult to follow. I felt sad that I couldn't understand everything that was being said, and I would have loved to have had more in depth conversations with people, but I know that will come - and I was never made to feel like I wasn't welcome back to improve my communication skills.


    There were a couple of hearing people besides my friend and I; Sarah Martin, who has been one of my inspirations, was there to introduce us, and Dee works with the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and is studying Level 2 at the moment. I tell you something, if I'm half as good as she is now when I do my Level 2 course, I will be a very happy man.


    It made me far more appreciative of the world Deaf people live in. I was in a minority and had to work hard to make myself understood, as well as trying - and sometimes failing - to understand others. It made me appreciate what Deaf people have to face, and made me more determined to be as involved as I can with the language and the community in the future.


    Who'd have thought all of that would have come out of a visit to the pub, eh? If there's one way to learn a language, it's to immerse yourself in it and not be afraid to make mistakes (and occasionally make an idiot of yourself). That’s a philosophy I’m sticking by, as I intend to make more visits to the local Deaf pubs – I feel as if my confidence has been boosted ten-fold by just one visit.


    Until next time - and a big thank you to all my new friends at the Deaf pub for really making me feel welcome!