Like a lot of people, I tried out a few new hobbies during the first Covid-19 lockdown, one of which was starting an online course in BSL.

It had always been in the back of my mind, wanting to learn, and this seemed like a good opportunity.
I made a whole schedule for study and managed to stick to it…for about a week. ‘Go at your own pace’ distance learning was not for me.

One of the other things I learnt during that time is just how much I relied on lip-reading! The masks really highlighted the extent of my Auditory Processing Disorder, something I hadn’t given much thought to beforehand, and the struggles that D/deaf people must have been facing during that time.

The first week I was extremely anxious. I got to the DCC early to get a feel for the place. As a wheelchair user I always like to give a bit of extra time in case of any accessibility issues, but the building was absolutely fine and access for different disabilities had obviously been prioritised. I waited in the reception area with some other students. It was completely silent, with most people looking at their phones, except for two people having a conversation in BSL. I wondered if I should try to speak to someone else, maybe ask if they were here for the same course, but I got so worried that I would accidentally offend a D/deaf person that I stayed quiet!

Our tutor, Karl, ushered us through to the classroom and it suddenly occurred to me that I was unsure how I was going to communicate with him considering I only vaguely remembered how to fingerspell. However, it was apparent from the start that this wasn’t going to be an issue. Karl was a fantastic (and patient) tutor and on the odd occasion or two that we weren’t sure of a word/sign, he wrote it on the flipchart. Easy. BSL is also very expressive and so, a lot of the time, we could get the general gist, if not the specifics. One of the first signs I learnt was “break time”!

By a quarter of the way through the course I was starting to get to know the other students, their reasons for wanting to learn BSL, ways of taking notes, or ideas for practicing outside of class.

As time went on, and our vocabulary grew – I learnt about their daily routines, their family, pets, and work. Kris takes the bus. Berny sleeps in late. Christiana is a skilled dancer (or so she tells me). Karl keeps his helicopter in the car park (not sure about this one!).

We had plenty of time to practice with each other, and recap things from previous weeks. The repetition was really helpful, as was the feeling of being a unit – a class of people who learned together, practiced together, and took the exams together.

Coming up to the final exam and the last week of Level 1 I realised that I would have to keep using BSL as much as possible for it to really “bed in”. Helpfully, I’ve got the numbers of half a dozen people who would be willing to meet for a coffee and practice signing. On top of that, BID host all sorts of social events for the Deaf community, and most people seem happy for hearing people to join them.