More than just BSL: It's also understanding the diverse needs of Deaf communication

At Deaf Umbrella, the primary focus is on supporting British Sign Language (BSL) users, so their work often centres around students who use BSL. As someone with severe hearing loss who uses two hearing aids and lip reading to understand the world, but doesn't use BSL (although I am learning now and have completed my Level 1 and 2), my experience is a little different. However, I was pleased to be invited to share my perspective.

While I can’t speak on behalf of my friends who are BSL users, I can share what worked and didn’t work for me. My own experience as an oral/lip-reading Deaf student showed me just how valuable a Communication Support Worker (CSW) can be.

To fully support a Deaf student, it's essential to understand their communication preferences and explore what works for them, as well as how to improve upon it. It's also necessary to support your student by helping them to ask for access, empowering them to reach their full potential.

Deaf awareness is crucial, as it involves understanding and listening to their experiences of deafness and what helps them in their learning and comprehension of information. Deaf Umbrella offers a complete Deaf awareness training module. Please do check it out here. 

Additionally, I wanted to share some simple Deaf awareness tips with you that can help those like me and anyone within the Deaf community:

·       Never assume, always ask what the students' preferred communication method is

·       Face the person when talking to them

·       Don’t speak while turning away or writing on a board

·       Don’t cover your mouth when speaking

·       Be patient

I wanted to share a surprising incident that occurred during my attendance at an adult learning class.

My assigned Communication Support Worker (CSW) introduced herself and accompanied me in finding my class. She asked if I needed to take the lift up to the 2nd floor. I explained that I was fine with the stairs, having regrettably not asked her why she thought I would need them. However, it did leave me questioning why she had assumed that about me; was it an error in my notes? And she thought I had a physical disability as well. It made me anxious about how she would support me in class; thankfully, she was open to a conversation about how to help me when we entered the class.

It might have come from a good place, but it made me feel uncomfortable and misunderstood. What I needed was something simple and specific: clear communication, basic deaf awareness, and support with note-taking during class.

Assumptions, even well-meaning ones, can be disempowering. Proper support starts with asking, not guessing, what a person needs and the more awareness you can gather as a CSW, the better this is for you and them - submerging yourself within the deaf community following multiple accounts which can help you to achieve a rich and diverse picture of the wide deaf community.

Things you can do to support your client in their learning role include never assuming, always asking what you can do to help them, and ensuring you are approachable if they request changes, as needed. 

The deaf community isn’t always empowered to self-advocate, so support them in being a more vigorous advocate and help them to empower themselves, which will enable them to get the best out of the support you're offering them.

Take the time to get to know your client, and if possible, remain consistent with their wishes.

Ensuring you maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality, deaf Umbrella has created a brilliant guide here for CSWs on how to achieve this with the right balance.

Something to be aware of is that the client you're working with may experience a change in their deafness – their degree of hearing may have diminished over the years. So they are in a new learning environment, not knowing how this environment will affect them and what the support will need to be like. They may have had a new hearing technology tool that they are getting to grips with, and so with that, it requires patience and raising your awareness towards the wider deaf community.

There are significant gaps in the resources and skills of Communication Support Workers, and learning just British Sign Language alone isn’t enough; submerge yourself within the deaf community, understand its diversity, and learn to recognise each person's unique communication preferences. Those who use BSL as their first language, in comparison to those who are oral and deaf, will have a different approach entirely in how to take notes and what their preference is in class when watching a presentation online for example; would they like you to interpret for them, or would they prefer captions? Or both?

My most significant piece of advice would be to immerse yourself in the deaf community and understand the access needs of the wider deaf community, BSL users, and beyond. Always ask, take the time to get to know your client, and understand what will work best for them – everyone is unique. I would also take the time to learn from and listen to the Deaf community about the old beliefs they have been subjected to and still face, including the barriers they have historically encountered. You are welcome to join me on our Living with Hearing Loss network and social media channels for different perspectives within the d/Deaf community.

I feel in my own lived experience I would of really welcomed support and information as to what support was available to me in the work place – being in a mainstream educational setting meant this information wasn’t made available to me – it’s one of the many reason to why I started Living With Hearing Loss in developing its Directory to help provide this vital information to empower deaf individuals of knowledge of what is available to them.

Deaf Umbrella has a great resource on support available for the deaf community, on Access to Work – please read here, which I found helpful! It's also great for you as a CSW to understand as well.

Supporting deaf individuals goes far beyond learning a single skill; it requires empathy, curiosity, and a willingness to learn. Whether someone uses BSL, lip-reading, speaks orally, relies on captions, or uses assistive technology, or all of the above, their access needs are valid and personal. As a CSW or ally, the most powerful thing you can do is listen -listen, and respond with thoughtful, informed support.

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Thank you for reading, and I wish you all the very best in your communication support worker role. Remember you are very appreciated and integral to a student's success story. My Communication Support Worker and I collaborated on writing an article for Deaf Umbrella – Read Our Story Here.