The acclaim given to sign language interpreters

The Limping Chicken has today published a post titled 'Are Interpreters like #SignGuy, who sign during public emergencies, going viral for the right reasons?'.

The article goes on to discuss the hearing population's reactions to sign language interpreters they deem as particularly animated and amusing, and the reasons why the signing might be so expressive.  Please go read it.  There are linguistic reasons why some signing is bigger, more animated and larger than life, I guess.

I got to thinking whether hearing people would be so interested in a Deaf person's signing.  Would a Deaf person on telly get the same sort of social media fans, would they get a hashtag dedicated to them.  In my experience, hearing people, unless they are involved in the Deaf community and or learning BSL, have a special sort of admiration for Interpreters that they don't have interpreters or translators of other languages.  Part of this is the obvious beauty of BSL, when a language is visual it's easier to appreciate than a spoken language (or is that just me?).  But hearing people seem to have special credence and admiration for sign language terps, beyond the visual nature of it.

I think it's driven by the pretty low awareness people have of sign languages, so when they do pay attention they are impressed, and then they think a sign language is either really hard or really easy to learn, in a way they don't apply to spoken languages.  You'll see loads of people claiming that they can understand interpreters on the telly.  Unless you've studied the language you can't.  People don't do this with French or Japanese.

Then people seem to think that BSL Interpreters are performing a selfless act.  They think of the profession and skills as being really rewarding.  I used to volunteer in the local Deaf Centre's cafe.  I had someone tell me that must be really rewarding.  Erm, I served teas and coffee??  That's not rewarding.  I volunteered because it was a good break from my regular job and I really enjoyed the social side of it.  I liked chatting with the regulars.  I got far more from them than they got from me, not least because I can make really bad cups of tea and it took me months to remember the sign for kit-kat.

Some people can't see that interpreters get satisfaction from just doing a job well.  They don't see the intricacies of the job, or the difficulties, or the hard situations a terp might be places into.  They don't consider the pleasure in finding accurate interpretations for complex concepts.

So because of this they don't regard interpreting as a real job.  Yet when faced with an actual Deaf person who used BSL they'd be completely stuck and they wouldn't know what to do.  They'd feel awkward.  They wouldn't know how to speak to them.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this or how logical it is.  I think I'm just a bit put out that despite some peoples interest in BSL they wouldn't think to learn it or think of Deaf people as normal people.

Batgirl 37 - did y'all miss the appropriation of ASL?

I finally read Batgirl 37, and yes I agree with the rest of the liberal internet community, that issue relied on tired old tropes and cliches for trans people and was all in all clumsily and hurtfully done.

Why have I not seen anything about the use of ASL in the issue?  For those that don't know, ASL is American Sign Language, used by the Deaf community in the States and is a different language to all the other sign languages in the world.  Like English is different to all the other spoken languages in the world.  Even other English speaking countries have sign languages that are different to ASL.  E.g. Australia has AusLan, the UK has British Sign Language (BSL) and the languages are not interchangeable.  Got that? Good.

Back to the comics.  My ire is particularly directed at this page:

Some background - Babsgirl goes to an art show and it's full of floor to ceiling photographic images of someone dressed as Batgirl, pulling all sorts of stupid poses.  Babs is obviously horrified as everyone thinks it's the actual Batgirl in the pictures.

When the show has ended Babs does some investigations and looks up an ASL dictionary.  A quick google search brings up a variety of different images for ASL dictionary, none of which look like the book Babs is holding.  Harrumph.
After looking in the book Babs concludes that the stupid poses were actually ASL signs, a code to her, saying 'Below Burn Side Bridge 10pm'.

Arrggghh!  OK, before we get into how the signs work, let's just look at how this secret message would work.

The plot assumes that no one else at the show, or who would be consuming the images at a later date, understands ASL.  Like it's some ultra secret hidden thing, that you only get to learn once you're in the club.  Not so.  This article gave the number of ASL users in 1974 at half a million, at a very conservative estimate.  For crying out loud, America has a University for the Deaf where everyone uses ASL!  That's not even counting those for whom ASL is a fluent second language, or those who have studied ASL and use it in their jobs or for fun when out with friends, for example.

So, I do not hold that Babs will be the only person ever seeing those images who can work out that it's ASL.

Next, the signs.
Full disclosure here:  I don't know ASL, I know BSL.  I have no idea about ASL vocabulary, but I do understand the grammar of sign languages and the ways in which they can be represented.

The photographs in this comic are 2d representations of a 3d language.  It can be hard to accurately draw vocabulary from sign languages because you need to show movement, speed and relation of the sign to other parts of the sentence.  But it can be done.  Off the top of my head The That Deaf Guy comic strip does it well, as did some of David Mack's Echo/Daredevil comics.  Peter David's Deaf Supergirl and Young Justice issues also did OK.

These Babsgirl panels do not do this.  Yes, you can see that the handshapes are correct - so some tell me, others say they aren't so I guess there's some regional variation in the signs there.  If you look at the image for burn, I'll bet you anything that the ASL for burn is not static and is similar in construction to the BSL sign for burn or fire, e.g. the sign includes movement and without the movement the handshape is meaningless.  Here are some clips of the BSL sign for burn and fire.

Oh look, I've remembered I'm online and have just looked up the ASL sign for burn.  What it ain't is someone clutching their chest and looking wistfully/sexily at the sky.  Facial expressions, shoulder position, head position all count in ASL.

Here are the other signs in that panel:
Below
Burn
Side
Bridge
10
Pm or any other indication of time isn't even in there, as far as I can see.

Taking handshapes from just one part of the sign is akin to writing down 'cial' from facial and expecting everyone to know you mean facial.  On twitter I said that movement wouldn't have worked in the context of the comic.  I take that back.  They could have shown movement, they could have done lots of superimposed images of the fake Batgirl's hands moving through space.  Bet they still could have made it sexy if they wanted.

Finally, I'd expect Burnside, as a trendy area of Gotham, to have it's own sign and not be an amalgamation of Burn and Side.  It might not be in the dictionary, but I bet you, within the fictional DCU Deaf folk have their own sign for it.

This comic bothers me so much because it reads like cultural appropriation of ASL, it's nominally in there just to move the plot forward and show how awesome Babsgirl is.  It doesn't do anything for Deaf studies, Deaf awareness or ASL.  It's like Gwen Stefani's harajuku girls or white folk dressing up as Native Americans for Halloween.  Or like that godawful French film that was recently released.

I know I'm hearing, and some would say it's not my place to say this, and really it's probably not, you'd be better off reading Deaf bloggers views of the comic, and I'd point you to them but I'm out of the loop on Deaf blogs and I have no idea where to find Deaf comic bloggers (particularly political ones), and particularly fans of the DCU.  If anyone knows any please point me in the right direction!

I'm not trying to say my viewpoint supercedes any Deaf people viewpoint. It doesn't.  But I can't believe that no one else has spoken up about this.  Regular readers know I get my knickers in a twist quite regularly, this is one of those times.  If no one else is going to speak up so that I can comment on the blog and link back to it, I'm going to mouth off.

Many thanks to @matttygurney75, @unikornus and @adreanaline for talking through my ideas with me on twitter.  As @adreanaline said:
"Comics is about capturing 3D motion onto 2D pages.  That is why ASL Deaf artists should be hired.  They know how to do ASL."

Incidentally, she is a Deaf cartoonist and author of How to Write American Sign Language.  So she'll know.

Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible 20th anniversary gig

On Tuesday I went to go see the Manics perform, in it's entirety, for the first time, their most accomplished album, The Holy Bible.

I've been a fan for 20 years.  Some of these songs have never been played before.  This is the one thing I've been looking forward to since my son died.

They were good.   They played very well.  I was too short to see much of them on stage but I'm always too short to see much of them on stage.  They noodled a lot.  They are different musicians to their 20 years younger selves and so they played the music differently.  It was good.  I got emotional, of course I did, it's a Manics gig, I've had a pretty shit 6 and a half months and I'm a cliche.  But!  For a few seconds, for a little while, I forgot my troubles.  I felt OK enjoying the gig. I felt OK being out.  I didn't feel guilty.  This was the first time since June that I have been in such a big crowded environment and it didn't freak me out.  That's good.  I also started signing to 4st 7lbs and This is Yesterday.  I haven't really voluntarily and unconsciously signed since June.

They did 2 sets. The first was the Holy Bible in full.  Then there was a 10 minute break and then they did a mix of hits, songs from Futurology and rarely played.  And a little bit of Last Christmas of course.

I wore a leopard print skirt and a DC Roller Derby girls vest:
https://twitter.com/SarangaComics/status/544890981448167425/photo/1
No one commented on my vest.  There's a distressing low number of comic fans out there.  Or maybe there were lots and they all thought I was a fake geek girl (ha!).

I didn't come out of the gig feeling elated and buzzing.  Of course I didn't, I imagine it will be a long time before I feel elated and buzzing again. But, I am glad I went.  I'm grateful for the chance to be there and I'm grateful for how I could forget my troubles for just a short while.

I recommend you go listen to the Holy Bible now.  There are various playlists on youtube, this is one of them:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0F4BA11B133BFBA0

Supersonic - an indie superhero film

I just watched Supersonic.  It's an indie coming of age superhero film by a British director, set in London, possibly Lambeth if I remember the credit sequence correctly.

It's only half an hour long, I recommend you go watch it -
http://www.bslzone.co.uk/watch/supersonic1

It's about a 16 year old who slowly comes to realise he has speedster powers and has to choose what to do with them.  It's also about family - blood family and chosen family - and responsibility.  Check it out!  It's all in BSL but there are subtitles if you need them.  I'm quite gratified to realise I didn't need the subtitles.

Stuff that's been swimming around my brain for a while

I have come across tons of cool stuff lately so I'm going to dump them all in this blogpost.   Enjoy.

This video is my friend interpreting Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody into British Sign Language.  If you like, performances, Queen or BSL do yourself a favour and watch this.

Here's a story about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, which went into the Jaws movie.

Here's a graphic showing the sign language family tree.  It's not entirely up to date, Auslan (Australian  Sign Language isn't on there, for example) but it's a good start and probably useful for folk who don't know much about how sign languages develop.

Sci-fi women rock:

 

I'll end with a few turtle themed pictures:

I aten't dead

Just a bit busy.  I've had 2 of my clips for my BSL Level 3 accepted (woop woop!)  and have filmed 2 more that I hope will be accepted, so I;m abotu halfway there. Hurrah!  I also passed my driving test on attempt number 5 :D  Can't afford to buy a car though..
Things on my house front are looking up..we're getting lots of viewings so hopefullt some bugger will want to buy the damn thing soon...

I also read all 4 twilight books in 1 week.  I liked them.  I can see why people don't.  I think they don't because Twilight is very much a teenage girls romance fantasy, with supernatural elements.  I thought it was a lot of fun.  It surprises me that people think Bella is cowardly or insipid though.  She's not. She's central to every fight and does a lot of things that terrify her.

And today I was pointed towards this, which is explanation enough for why I'm vegetarian:

It's really disgusting.  I can't believe I used to eat clams.  That is also reason enough why I don't go in the sea.  Eurghh.  Thanks for pointing that out to me Phillipa...

Things don't turn out quite as expected

I spent this weekend in London starting the second (and final) part of my BSL Level 3. The teaching was very good, the explanations were very good, they gave a lot of constructive criticism and I think by far it's one the best training providers I've enrolled with.  However I now feel like a complete dunce.  Partly because I've been given a lot of areas to improve.  Which is good, because without criticism you don't know you're going wrong and you can't improve.

But, I now have a lot of homework to do before next Saturday, which is the next training weekend, and a lot of things to consider and improve upon.  Apart from pre-scheduled posts, I probably won't be posting much.  Unless I decide to upload videos of myself signing, which won't be very interesting for any of you, because I don't think any of you know BSL.

Ah well, we'll see.

One Stop Shopping for language interpreters does not work

I recently read this post, found here, which makes me despair, and worry about my career plans for being a BSL terp.

Argggghhh.  As follows:

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Outsourcing or One Stop Shops. Words that strike fear into the heart of the Sign Language Interpreter. A word that means the work that they previously did direct or though one agency for a council, a hospital or a court now has to go through a larger spoken language agency.

This seems nonsensical to the jobbing interpreter, but ultimately makes sense to the statutory organisation. The logic or process goes like this: we use many interpreters for many different languages. British Sign Language (BSL) is a language. Our staff do not know how to book interpreters so we will employ an organisation who can do this for us. We will save money by employing an agency to cover our interpretation and translation needs (which will include those difficult to source sign language interpreters)…

We will go through a lengthy procurement process where agencies will try to outbid each other to win a contract at a unit price that is ultimately unsustainable. Organisation will expect said agencies to put something in their tender about quality but really it is tokenism for we will only be awarding a contract on the basis of costs. We will award contract to cheapest provider regardless…

Spoken language agency will not understand how to source a BSL interpreter and will sub-contract a specialist agency. They will think they can pay BSL interpreter the same as a spoken language interpreter and when they start the contract will get a big shock. Specialist BSL agency eventually agrees to reduced price sub-contract as all previous work they did is now being outsourced to spoken language agencies who have little understanding of deaf people and BSL interpreters. Specialist BSL agency still wants to survive in market where they get less work. BSL agency asks BSL interpreter to work for less fees. BSL interpreter, if accepting fees, finds they are working for a lot less than before. BSL interpreter is then providing profit for two separate contracts. BSL interpreter considers leaving the profession as they can not survive as an interpreter and must consider another career. Deaf people get less experienced and maybe unregistered interpreters as a result.

Time for a real life example… One of the biggest culprits is Language Empire and Remark Interpreting. Language Empire has a contract to provide interpreting for ATOS. ATOS has the contract for the Government’s Department of Work and Pensions medical assessments. ATOS carry out assessments to decide if the claimant should be allowed incapacity benefit or if they are fit to work. There are problems for disabled people in general with these assessments. MPs themselves have stated the assessments are flawed. The ATOS machine rumbles on… so who do they employ to do the interpreting? Language Empire. An agency who is so ignorant of BSL it calls it British Special Language. The images of hands on its ‘BSL’ page are not of any recognisable signs and they state they have ‘special disability interpreters’. Nobody actually knows what this means. Their webpage has caused BSL interpreters much mirth but complete dismay at their ignorance.

The worst is yet to come. A deaf-led agency has now started to sub-contract for Language Empire. At least the RNID (now Action on Hearing Loss) when sub-contracting for The Big Word stood up for BSL interpreters and helped The Big Word understand the BSL interpreting profession. This organisation has done nothing for interpreters or the deaf community it proposes to serve. They continue to try to source BSL interpreters at greatly reduced cost for what it’s contractors call British Special Language. This particular agency states one of their aims as supporting and enhancing the lives of Deaf, hard of hearing and blind individuals.’ I don’t think so.

Meanwhile we hear of regular reports of yet another council, organisation or government department outsourcing or looking for a ‘one stop shop’. When the agency is not reputable, the cost to the organisation generally remains the same but the quality drops off. With BSL usually representing something around 2% of a contract, the interpreter or deaf person loses out. What used to cost an organisation £100 – £160 per booking average direct, now costs the same or worse (Freedom of Information requests by interpreters show this to be the case due to sub-contracting).

The fact costs have barely been saved is not important. It’s the ramifications to the profession and subsequently deaf people that matters. Spoken language agencies generally do not understand the NRCPD registration system for sign language interpreters. These agencies are more likely to employ someone with level 1 or 2 in sign language (equivalent to a GCSE or A Level in French) thinking this is acceptable. It may be if we were native BSL users but as interpreters, by the nature of the job, we are mostly people that can hear, and we tend to have English as our first language. Therefore, most people with a basic qualification in BSL do not have enough fluency to interpret anything but someone buying a cup of coffee much less a medical appointment. Would you try to interpret consent for an operation to a French man if you had GCSE French?

Every qualified registered interpreter has been to an appointment where the deaf person said but that’s not what the interpreter said last week. Take the case recently of an elderly deaf man who thought he was having a minor operation on his shoulder. The hospital had provided an ‘interpreter’ the week before to sign the consent forms. When the registered interpreter arrived a week later the patient was shocked to discover he would be having a a major operation that day under general anaesthetic. What will it take to stop this… A malpractice lawsuit? A death? Rumour has it that already happened but unless someone actually does anything about it, the government outsourcing machine continues, the big agencies profit and deaf people lose out.

Yet again London gets all the fun things

I got this from the Deaf Uk Jobs yahoo group/mailing list:
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CommunityID is running a Big Lottery project for ALL of London. The aim is to promote 'community cohesion' for Deaf people and improved working conditions and awareness for their BSL Interpreters.

We regularly deliver our free interactive and modern "Deaf & Interpreter" sessions to those that are eligible (third sector, volunteers and those from deprived/poor backgrounds) .

However, 2012 will be taking a new additional approach – with some great themed events with some great Deaf guest speakers being lined up!

There will be a mix of presentations, training workshops & sessions and lots of opportunities to network at all the events.

ANYONE from LONDON is welcome to attend, if they meet our criteria:

• Work in Third Sector (charity, community/voluntary groups, C.I.Cs, ethically motivated social enterprises)
• Volunteer in spare time
• Low income (deprived background – unemployed, low paid worker)
• Have a Deaf family member and need to learn more
• Volunteer or work to support specific Deaf communities/ organisations/ projects

Please see the list of dates coming up in London:

"Deaf Accessibility in the Third Sector" 1st March (in partnership with Sense)
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ third_sector_ themed_day. jpg

Guest Speakers:
Gillian Morbey OBE, CEO of Sense International
Tomato Lichy – BDA Representative

This day is open for all – with a specific theme of how the Third Sector is open to Deaf community members. A great day for Managers and Service Coordinators!

"Creative Opportunities for the Creative Minds" 5th March
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ art_sector_ themed_day. jpg
Guest speakers:
Samuel Dore, BurstEarDrum – Deaf Film Maker, Photographer
Caroline Parker – Freelance Performing Artist

This day is open for all – with a specific theme of the Arts and Creative Industries and looking an inclusive opportunities and experiences of Deaf `creatives'!

"Age & Isolation from a Deaf perspective" 22nd March
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ age_isolation_ themed_day. jpg
Guest speakers:
JDA (Jewish Deaf Association) representative
Others being confirmed

This day is open for all – with a specialised focus on the ageing population and sharing the Deaf experiences. A fascinating debate on services and resources…

"Ethnicity & Equity - exploring Deaf culture and access" 27th March
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ ethnicity_ equity_themed_ day.jpg
Guest speakers:
Mohammad Mahboubi – Deaf Iran Refugee experience
Others being confirmed

This day is open for all – focusing on the multi-cultural and diverse community that not only London has, but it's rich Deaf community too. What are the daily issues that this service sector face?

"Enhancing Education through Sign Language"
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ education_ themed_day. jpg
Guest speakers:
Francis Elton – Linguistic Researcher
Catherine Drew – Deaf Instructor, Frank Barnes

This day is open for all – investigate and learn what "bi-lingual" education means and the importance of Deaf BSL users being taught in their first language, with fascinating insight in Deaf History and first hand experiences…

"Deaf Accessibility for LGBT services" 29th March
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ LGBT_themed_ day.jpg
Guest speakers:
Tim Aldcroft – Kairos in Soho (a beneficiary of our project will share his views)
Others being confirmed

This day is open for all – sector specific day focusing on the daily experiences of the Deaf LGBT community and how it can access its diverse, sensitive and essential support services on a par with others.

"Positive Pathways into Mental Health & Deafness" 3rd April
http://communityid. co.uk/CID_ mental_health_ themed_day. jpg
Guest speakers:
being confirmed

This day is open for all – having a positive approach to Mental Health and it's services is vital to make positive changes. Deaf people are more prone to experience such issues? Come and learn why…

Our aim is to deliver 2 sessions that repeat in the morning and afternoon – to allow for people's valuable time. Maximum of 50 people per session please.

All people that attend are then eligible to apply for FREE BSL 1 training via our project.

Please do pass this on to others that you think would benefit.

If you would like more information, have a question about coming or to book a place on any of these events then please do contact us as soon as you can!

Contact details are:

Colette Hogan
Project Director

colette@communityid .co.uk
020 7249 8454

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This looks so interesting  but I don't live in London so I can't go. :(

I passed!

My BSL assessment, woo-hoo!

EDIT - this means that I get to do the second part of the level 3 course, which gives me the qualification.  I haven't actually passed the level 3 yet.  But I hope to do so by summertime.  I'll just have to work really damn hard.  Which I am more than happy to do!

I failed the driving test.  There's a surprise.  But the BSL thing is far more important to me, so hurrah!
I booked another driving test. Perhaps I shall drive better next time. *le sigh*

Today is hate the world day

So, I've been doing a British Sign Language Level 3 NVQ Certificate course (for British folk - it's about A-level standard).  I started it in September, finished (and passed) the first part (called language development) in December, and was very ready to start the second part in February, which would give me the qualification.

But the training provider I was training with had to delay the second part until September.  So I started looking for other providers.  Yesterday I headed down to London (no short trip - it's about 3.5 to 4 hours door to door, each way) for an assessment to do the second part of the course.  Which I right royally fucked up.  See, I know I'm at the required standard.  I'm at the right level.  My signing isn't fluent, I make mistakes, but I am ready to get this qualification and I am absolutely determined to do it.  Unfortunately I'm not very good in test situations, and I panic, doubt myself and get really nervous.  So my signing goes to pieces, my handshapes get sloppy, I forget basic vocabulary, I forget what I'm trying to say, I forget to respond to people, I concentrate so hard on getting all the information that I go out of focus and my mind wanders and I don't pick up what they want to tell me.

So because of nerves, because I want to do this qualification so badly I have probably screwed it up.  I wasn't at my best, I can do better.  I know this.  But what's the point if I can't show it?  I do the same with driving tests - I've got my third one on Tuesday. I can drive OK, I can drive to the right standard, I just freak out just before the test, get nervous and drive badly.  I will probably do the same again on Tuesday, which will mean another £62 (the cost of each test) and the cost of lessons is wasted, and I'll have to spend it all over again.

Have an appropriate song:

Edit, made about 5 hours later:  Now I've had a walk and a think I figure the best thing for me to do is keep up my signing, go to workshops and training to improve problem areas, go to more deaf events, and just suck up the fact that I'm gonna have to wait till September to do the second part of the level 3.  And delay/amend my career plans, as I'm obviously not gonna get to to the next level  as soon as I thought.
Fuck, I'm so angry at myself for screwing up yesterday.

Imbolc

February 1st and 2nd is Imbolc, an old pagan festival. Imbolc means ewes milk and it marks the time of year when we see the light returning – the days have become noticeably longer, it’s now light-ish at 4.30 to 5pm. The Imbolc goddess is Brigit. She walks the ground tapping it with a white rod and then snowdrops appear. She can turn water into beer and she is linked with the moon. In the past, when Brigit had priestesses, she used to have 19 who guarded a fire each day. On the 20th day Brigit would arrive to tend it. Her animals are the swan and the wolf. I don’t know why. Brigit has 3 fire arrows – one for the hearth or forge, one for healing and one for inspiration. At Imbolc we eat sheeps milk cheese, drink a beer and light candles.

I like Imbolc – I hate the darkness of winter, I hate the cold. I like candles, and cheese, and beer. This festival suits me. Enjoy the new light folks!

Here's my BSL (ish) version of the above text:

Hearing dog awards

Hearing dogs for deaf people do an annual award ceremony where they recognise particular dogs that are really special to the Ddeaf people they help.

One award is the Life-Cganging Hearing dog of the year award and my friends have just won it!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!

See Foggy and Simon's story:

See the other finalists here.
See finalists for all awards here.
See winners for all awards here.

YAY! Well done fogs and Simon :D

Not around much

Blogging is likely to come to a complete slowdown over the next few months.  I've started my BSL level 3  course in London, with Remark!, I've attended one weekend so far and have a few more to go.  It was great, really great, but I've got a lot of work to do inbetween classes.  So, I have set up a youtube channel, and I intend to upload videos of myself signing, dunno what about yet, I suspect comics will come into it somewhere.  Hopefully this will give me the confidence to sign in front of a camera and also provide me with a way to self evaluate and improve my skills.

Anyway, for the next few months or so I reckon I'll be concentrating on that and New readers... more than on Pai.  If you're interested in the channel, or if you know BSL and would like to leave me comments, the channel is here.  I think that's the right link - the channel is called sarangabsl.

I've read Justice League #1, and loved it, my review is on New readers....  I have yet to read the other number ones as I haven't picked them up yet.  Will do so Friday or Saturday.

What does everyone else think of the new DCnU titles?  What are the good ones what are the bad ones?  Leave reccs and warnings in the comments please!

Oh, and I'm particularly keen on comixology!  I downloaded JL from it before getting my hardcopy and it's easy to use and cheap.  Awesomesauce.

You def won;t hear from me over the next week though, as I'll be on holdiay in France :D

GCSE in British Sign Language?

Signature, the accrediting body for all British Sign Language, Deaf Awareness, Communication Support Worker, Lipseapking, Notetaking etc courses, are developing a GCSE in British Sign Language.  they would like to seek evidence of support and demand for the course, and are asking people to show support by going here.

For non UK people, GCSE's are the exams you take at 16.  After 16 you can leave education, but if you choose to continue studying you can take A-Levels (at 18) and then go to university.

Obviously, I support the creation of more BSL courses, so long as they taught to a high standard and native BSL users are involved in the programmes.  If you support the creation of a GSCE in BSL please go visit the page and leave a message.

Signing Choir

Some of you may know that I am in a BSL signing choir.  This means we interpret songs into British Sign Language (or sometimes Sign Suported English) and we perform them at various venues.  Lots of people are curious about this, they don't know how it works, what it entails or how we perform.  So, to increase awarenness I am providing links to our videos (eep).

The following videos were recorded on 4th May at the Forum in Norwich, for the Norfolk Deaf Awareness Festival.  For me, I was having a bad (terribly nervous) day that day, so my performance is not very good.  Others in the choir are far better that I.

Whole choir doing Take That's Rule The World

Whole choir doing Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight

Whole choir doing John Barrowman's Love Changes Everything

Solo of Alanis Morrisette's Ironic  (My favourite of all the performances)

For a taste of other ways to interpret songs, this is a you tube channel for one of my friends doing solo performances, under the name V Sign.  She's fabulous.  Really really good.

Of course, there's always Lee's BSL songs as well, which are jaw droppingly excellent.  I don't know him, I just wish I could sign like him!

Watch Your Language

About a week or so ago I went to a conference named Watch Your Language.  It was for BSL interpreters and CSWs (neither of which I am, but I have decided that I will make sure that in September 2013 I will be enrolled on my interpreter training) and was held in London.  I do start my BSL level 3 in September (finally!) so I figured this conference would be good experience for me.

It was.  Days like these improve my receptive skills, knowledge of the Deaf world and understanding of the professional side of things.

In the morning there were presentations on the role of the interpreter and CSW, and they discussed how to be a Deaf ally whilst remaining professional.  The second speech was on Deaf people's perceptions of interpreters, the role of deaf clubs and the advancement of technology and how this has changed things in the Deaf community.

Lastly there was a presentation on choosing interpreters, and how much choice Deaf people should have in picking an terp.  Does it matter if the terp is registered?  How does registration affect co-working?  How effective is the complaints procedure?  How do terps maintain competency?  So many things to think about!

These presentations were all in BSL and voiced over into English.  This was particularly interesting as I have recently gone on 3 voiceover workshops (run by Deaf Matters), which were probably more useful (in terms of working) than any of my language classes have been.  Anyway, I could see how the professionals worked when doing voiceover and I was able to recognise some of the techniques we were taught on the workshops.

The afternoon consisted of 2 workshops.  One on Visual Language, what is it, how does it differ from BSL, does it have structure etc.  Very interesting discussion but unfortunately my receptive skills failed me at critical points.  Very embarrassing.  There was lots of food for thought offered up in this session and I still haven't come to a conclusion about what visual language is!


The final session of the day was on interpreting English idioms to BSL.  Considering I don't always understand the meaning of the idiom when presented into English, this was a very useful topic as I got to learn things!  The problem with idioms is they are specific to a language and culture, and their literal and figurative meaning is entirely different.  For example, dime a dozen, stuck between a rock and a hard place, drop in the ocean.

It was a very good day and just reinforced to me how much I miss working with Deaf people.  Oh well, I'll get there in the end!

UK Census

On the 27^th March all households in the UK are required to complete their census form.  This data will be collected by the Office of National Statistics and use to inform government policy over the next 10 years.  There’s a lot of questions asked, concerning sex, age, occupation, language, place of work, religion, ethnicity, age and mode of transport to work.

There’s a big brou-ha-ha over the census – I get the impression that this is a regular occurrence whenever the census is sent out.

Conspiciously absent is a question on sexual orientation, leading to the creation of a facebook group asking people to declare their religion as lesbian.

In the language section there isn’t enough room to write British Sign Language (although the question does state that you should put down British Sign Language if that is your first language, and the census is available in BSL on the official website).

Sikh and Jew isn’t included in ethnicity, although both are included as options in the religion section.

Sex only lists male and female options, leading to this interesting post on Shakesville, where it seems that by sex they actually means gender,

If you don’t fill out the census you are liable for a £1,000 fine, although I understand that approximately 40 people got fined last time round, when the numbers of those not completing it were probably closer to 3 million*.

Some people are calling for the government to drop the census (which they are intending to do anyway – apparently it’s too expensive – and gather the data from councils, police records, doctors’ records etc.  I think these people don’t really understand how important it is to gather the information correctly.  It would be near impossible, if not actually impossible, to collate and accurately merge the data from a variety of sources.

I have no problem with filling in the census – I think it’s necessary and I’m quite angry that the current government intend to cease carrying it out.  How else are they going to know the demographic of their citizens?  I’m also quite angry about there being no sexuality question.  I’m in the middle of writing a Starman review for Prism comics and I talk about the concept of bisexual erasure within the comic (I was recently reminded of the term by James Ashelford, thanks James!).  Erasure of certain sexualities (or other demographic types) would be much less easy to do if we had concrete data stating how many people termed themselves as such.  The census would be an excellent, nay only, opportunity to effectively gather this data.

How are we meant to prove that we’re here if we’re ignored?  I believe the current estimate of people terming themselves gay is 10% of the UK population.  I’m not sure that I believe it’s as low as that, but I have no way to disprove it.  If we had decent data we would be able to argue for funding towards queer organisations and also promote discussion about homo/biphobic attacks and discrimination.  As it is, we have nothing.  How ridiculous is that?

* or a million.  I can’t remember the figure.

Hurrah for Norwich Theatre Royal!

Last week I was looking for interpreted (into BSL) performances at my local theatre - Norwich Theatre Royal.  I knew they had interpreted performances, I've seen some before and as I'm gearing up to do my level 3 I thought I'd go see some shows and gaze in awe at the fluent, accomplished terps they use.

I went to the What's On page, as you do, and expected to have to scroll through each show to find which ones had signed performances.  How tedious.  Then I noticed they had a listing for Audio described dates.

A-ha!  They are disability aware, there will also be a hyperlink to the signed shows!  There wasn't  Oh dear.  So I emailed them asking for a list of signed shows and asking why they didn't have a list on their website (seeing as they had gone to the bother of the listing the audio described dates).

This was at 11.41 am on 13th January.  At 14.19pm the same day I got an email back, giving me info about the signed shows (including the names of the interpreters) and saying:

"I am sorry there isn't a separate list on the website, and I will ask our Data & Online Manager if this can be arranged"

On 17th January at 13.33 I got another email saying:

"I have updated the website too, and will endeavour to do so for future signed events"

Wow.  They fixed it almost immediately (well, in 4 days, that's immediate enough for me).  You can see the hyperlink on the website here.

Congrats Norwich Theatre Royal!  I am incredibly impressed with the theatre and stunned that they took my query seriously and then did something about it.

Now I have tickets to see Yes Prime Minister (signed), and am thinking about another 2 or 3 shows!

Norfolk County Council's ideas for saving money

OK, I've been gearing up to write this for about a month but haven't quite managed it.  The whole task seems rather daunting and somewhat futile as I have no doubt that they will go ahead with the cuts regardless.  On the other hand, I also believe that it's really really important for people to speak up about things that are wrong.  If you do not voice your opinions about the reduction in public services, how are those making the decision going to know how you feel?  We need to tell them so that the decision, so that all responsibility stemming from that, will be on their head.

This a very long post, but please read it through to the end.

All the ideas and plans that the Council have are detailed in these documents here.  About a  month ago I first heard about the proposed cuts and went to a public meeting.  I had assumed the meeting was held for the Deaf community and was going to be focused on the Sensory Support Unit.  It wasn't, it was a general meeting and was dominated by people, both on the panel and in the audience, who were concerned about the job cuts.  Well, losing up to 3000 jobs is bad, there's no way round that.  But removing so much of the support services around vulnerable people in Norfolk is as bad, if not worse.  Most people at the meeting had no idea about the work of the Sensory Support Unit and no idea what the closure of it would mean to it's users.

I came out of the meeting fairly angry and frustrated.  There will be a march on 4th December throughout Norwich to protest against the cuts, but again, I fear the emphasis will be on job cuts, and not on the support services which we will be losing.  I know it isn't entirely the fault of Norfolk Council, the Conservative* government has told them to expect a £155 million gap in funding in order to help reverse the national deficit.  With an ageing population (you know, the service users) growing, the cuts form central government, inflation and a promise not to increase council tax the Council needs to find ways to save money.

How are they going to do this?
They have come up with various suggestions, put them in various documents and called it the Big Conversation.  A lot of it boils down to withdrawing services and expecting the private sector or volunteers to step in and take over.  Getting people to do jobs for free is really ethical, amirite?

• They are reducing eligibility or services from those with 'substantial' need to those with 'critical' need.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that people categorised as having substantial need could soon move to the critical need list, and that in the long run this will cost them more money.

• They intend to "provide leadership and influence to ensure Norfolk's voice is heard".  What use is this if you are not serving your constituents?  It's a cop out.
• "Commissioning efficient, responsive and cost effective services to meet people's needs" - this means outsourcing to private companies who in all likelihood don't or can't give a stuff about the pastoral care of their clients, because they are in it to make a profit.
• "Supporting, developing & maintain the infrastructure that helps our economy" - How???  Where is the funding for business and employment support that helps boost the economy?  What other services will be lost?
• Signposting people to the services they need and providing information about the services they need - so, that means outsourcing then.
• "Helping & enabling others to build and maintain strong, sustainable and caring communities" - relying on volunteers to do the job they used to do.
• Encouraging people to use their personal budgets to buy care and support for themselves.  These personal budgets are ALREADY being spent on things the recipient needs.  Personal budgets won't increase, so how will it be possible to afford everything?  This seems to me like people are being punished for requiring state aid.
• "People will be paying more towards the real cost of providing the services they receive or
  receiving help and support from others within their neighbourhoods"  Because vulnerable people are known for being rich aren't they?

There's a particularly disgusting section about the meals on wheels service (emphasis mine)-

"Many community and commercial organisations now provide options that give people a choice they
simply didn’t have before. For example, balanced ready meals are now available widely through
supermarkets with delivery options at a greater choice and lower cost than the council can provide through its more limited Meals on Wheels service. Similarly, community based leisure options offer a wide choice of daytime activities. Norfolk is blessed with a vibrant community life and voluntary sector, and strong parish and town councils. So we propose to modernise our services to take account of these changes in society and importantly, make sure we are targeting our services to where there is greatest need."

The Meals on Wheels service does not just provide meals.  They provide human contact, help with preparing the food, checking the person is eating enough and social interaction.  The supermarkets will not do this.  Not everyone has a credit or debit card to buy online.  Not everyone has a bank account.  Not everyone has Internet access to order food, or even know how to use the Internet, let alone afford it.

They talk about the cost of support for children coming into council care:
from ‘critical and substantial’, to ‘critical’ only."

Are we expected to believe that £51,000 is too much to spend on a child?  Note that they are reducing the eligibility to critical for adults only - because to reduce that for children would put them in breach of their statutory obligations.

Here are other costs they have quoted:

"Here are some of the costs we face:
· One fire engine costs £27,000 each year to lease.
· A residential care package for one older person can range between £15,000 and £93,000 a year.
· Providing residential care packages for adults with a learning disability can cost between £16,000 and £206,000 for one adult each year – although the average cost of care is £45,000.
· On average it costs the service £17,368 per year to deliver day care for an adult with a learning disability.
· Average cost of foster care for one child is £550 per week.
· Every tonne of waste that householders bring to our recycling centres costs us £91.
· The cost of subsiding Park & Ride journeys currently costs the council 89p per journey."

I mean seriously, what £27,000 is too much for a fire engine?  That saves lives?  £17,368 is too much to spend on day care for adults?  People providing foster care should do it for even less?

Then there's the bit about wanting to cut the rural bus service - with fewer buses, fewer people will use them, meaning the Council will argue that demand is decreased, so more buses will be cut, and so on and so on.  Meanwhile the infrastructure is disappearing from our villages so to access vital services you have to get into the towns or cities, but now you won;t be able to. Great.  Isolation beckons.

They appear to think that volunteers and members of the family will step in as carers.  They forget that not everybody can care for their family.  Not everyone has family.  Not everyone has the mental, physical or financial resources to help their family (or friends).  What happens to these people, these potential carers?  What happens to those needing care?

They intend to produce an Equality Impact Assessment of the proposals and use this to inform their decision.  This just stinks of bullshit - removing the Sensory Support Unit is obviously going to have an adverse impact on those with visual and hearing disabilities, because they are it's target user group.  If the Council was really interested in equality they wouldn't be proposing the closure of the Unit. 

The proposals state that they will "Reduce the scale and capacity of the sensory support service - We propose to scale back this service so that it meets only statutory requirements. It would mean the work of the current sensory support team would cease and statutory services commissioned through other providers."

At the public meeting the staff said they had already been told their jobs were going.  All of their work is a priority.  The Unit funds other vital services in the area.  It's a bloody disgrace (and really require scary) that it;s being considered for the axe.  I see now they have put up an extra document talking specifically about the Unit, go here and click on the documents tab, then consultation document.  Unfortunately it's in word, but if you need to read it and don't have word email me on paicomics [at] yahoo dot co dot uk and I'll get a pdf (or other) version emailed to you.


In the introduction, it states:

"We propose to reduce the level of services offered by our Sensory Support Service. We propose to do this by meeting only the needs of people who are eligible for social care services as set out by the Fair Access to Care (FACs) criterion. At present, we provide specialist support for people who have sensory support needs, but do not necessarily meet the FACs criterion.

If this proposal is agreed and implemented, we would no longer fund the sensory support team. People who are eligible for services under FACs criterion would continue to receive support services, but from their locality team through self directed support and personal budgets.

This proposal would see savings of approximately £1.06m."

Face to face meetings are being held with the user groups affected, some have already been held but I believe that one is due to take place at the Norwich Deaf Centre on 11th December.

The consultation runs from 26th October 2010 to 10th January 2011.  The Council Cabinet will meet on 24th January to decide what to do.  The full, horrific list of what will get axed is to be found here.  I would list them, but I'm too sickened by the proposals to look at it anymore. The next 4 years of this pissing Tory government are going to be hell on toast..

You know what else I'm sick of?  Mentioning this to hearing people and having them say 'yeah well something has got to be lost to save money, so it's the SSU or something else.'  I don't even have the energy to argue with them about it, if you have no empathy or understanding of how lucky you are to be able bodied in a society which does not value disabilities or people with disabilities, you..well, you annoy me.  And by the way, everyone is gonna be fucked over by these proposals.  The elderly, the young, those with mental health issues, learning difficulties, those with HIV/AIDs, the arts, parents and the museum service.

Fuck I'm depressed.

*OK OK, technically it's a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition.  I place the blame for these ridiculous economic policies at the Tories feet.