The Gold Opportunities Fund - Achieving my wish to learn BSL

The Gold Scholarship Opportunities Fund has allowed me to achieve my passion for non-verbal communication by passing the Level 101 Introduction to British Sign Language course. 

From a young age I have been fascinated by all forms of non-verbal communication which was sparked by my friend's sister being diagnosed with non-speaking autism. I first started to pick up fundamental signs of Makaton around the age of 6 whilst spending time at my friend's family home. I can vividly remember learning my first signs which were for "biscuit" and "cake" and feeling really pleased with myself.

A few years I was invited to a deaf wedding by an extended family member who is profoundly deaf. It was amazing observing the non-verbal communication between the bride and her close friends she met at Hamilton Lodge Deaf School. This opened my eyes to an entirely different world where all guests were encouraged to replace traditional clapping with the sign for clapping, which is jazz hands. The fact that every single word had a sign, completely baffled me and I spent the majority of the wedding in awe of their skill and talent.

My third encounter with the signing world was working as a Teaching Assistant at a special needs secondary school in my gap year. I was saddened to discover that a student had suffered from a brain injury and his verbal communication skills had diminished. I was introduced to an Augmentative and Alternative Communication device where the student was able to express their needs through assistive technology. Part of my job role was to support the student to use this new technology by initiating conversation through the iPad. Alongside this I was then encouraged to learn emotion signs and teach them to the students. This whole process of learning a new way of communicating was astonishing.

These experiences invoked a passion to become more involved within the signing and deaf space. I wanted to complete a BSL course in my local area but tuition and transport costs meant I was unable to explore this further. During in first year the opportunity arose that a sign language course was running at the university. I discovered the GSP Opportunities Fund could provide me a funded place through a quick and easy application. I absolutely jumped at this opportunities and was so grateful to be accepted by the GSP to complete the 10 week course. 

I have learnt an array of signs including the categories of greetings, letters, numbers, emotions, food, weather, directions, personality, clothing, transport and, most importantly, how to ask somebody to sign again but a lot slower! Recently I have been diagnosed with Dyslexia and learning BSL has been challenging for me, especially with using the alphabet. My spelling has been really put to the test when you also have to think about each letter in sign! I was often a bit confused when interpreting someone else's name and their fingerspelling. The tutor leading the BSL course was patient and amazing in overcoming this issue and she has taught me that process of elimination and context is key for transcribing.

Completing my exam for Level 101 was nerve-wracking, but being part of group who also have connections with the university has been extremely reassuring. Building new friendships on the course was comforting. We now plan to go to a pub in Bath which runs a Deaf group, so we test our skills out on with Deaf community. Passing this course now means there aren't so many barriers in my communication with the Deaf community both in my future professional and social life. 
I can now confidently initiate a conversation with a deaf person, which is a real privilege and excites me for the future. Although being in a group circle setting and taking turn to sign under pressure has been terrifying at times, I now know that deaf awareness is crucial to achieving inclusivity and accessibility in society.

Thank you Gold Opportunities Fund I couldn't have done it without you!