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Talk to me: a life in the day of a lipreader

How does a deaf lipreader spend their average Wednesday? For me as a self-employed person and co-Director of a social enterprise, Result CIC, last Wednesday was ordinary. But on reflection, it wasn’t. When you are rely mainly on lipreading for communication, every day offers fresh challenges as well as opportunities for more innovative communication. Here is what happened…...

War Requiem with a difference: sharing the silence

The ending of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is slow, dignified and very quiet. As the music tapers down, the audience is drawn into the tense, beautiful final bars with the choir singing the ‘Amen’ pianississimo (as quietly as possible). Done well, this ending creates one of those magical moment in a live performance which are followed by an extended shared silence when nobody moves or, it seems, dares to breathe and certainly doesn’t clap. Britten himself specified that at the premier ...

Looking up? Positive signs in Deaf Awareness Week

In our turbulent times, it is even more important to notice positive developments. I look at one big boost to D/deaf access and three organisations who have made smaller, but important changes....

Say more: slow down

As the ‘new term’ approaches, why not give yourself a personal communication re-boot? And who better to provide tips than a lipreader who has to put communication front and centre? Includes brief videos which let you try lipreading 2 words!...

Will you cope?

After 16 months in the slow lane, life is speeding up. How ready are we to return to whatever the new 'normal life' will look like? If you worry about how you will cope, you are not alone. And this article offers a helping hand....

A question of support

How does requiring support for work or everyday life make a person feel? And given that the need for support and help is so universal, why do we find it so hard to ask for it?...

Can we all stop worrying?

This is not an instruction. It’s a genuine question. With so much cause for worry, can we control how much we do it? The answer may surprise you....

Interaction: hidden treasure on Zoom - well hidden!

In this final Deaf technophobe blog, Jane explores some of Zoom’s interactive tools – you know the ones everyone else seems to use, but which seem to be invisible on your system? ...

‘It’s not me, it’s you’: taking back control on Zoom

If someone were about to take over your life, wouldn’t you want to know something about their behaviour and motivation first? Zoom now plays a major role in many peoples lives but is not always clear why it does what it does. Here I look at the psychological impact of losing control and solve one of Zoom's unexplained takeovers which can block your participants’ view....

Send my avatar! A deaf technophobe's guide to Zoom's deeper mysteries

Ever found yourself fuming on Zoom? ‘Where did the key person’s video suddenly go to?’. ‘How come there’s no option to re-copy my invitation to that meeting I set up?’ And, ‘Where did those dratted black boxes over my beautiful slides come from?’ With these new platforms, there’s no handbook. Fast smiley videos, yes, and FAQs. But have you noticed that for some reason your question never seems to be ‘frequently asked’ (at least in Zoom world) and an answer is elusive?...

A new pavement etiquette?

Going outdoors at the moment is fraught with danger isn’t it? And not just due to the risk of picking up Covid-19. Having to keep our distance from other human beings on often narrow pavements isn't easy. On daily walks I have noticed certain types who make this spatial negotiation even trickier. And if these are not carried out well, they could leave you, literally, in the gutter. So here is a light-hearted description of these pavement 'specicies' to help you spot and handle them....

Something missing?

The global health crisis is sharpening our understanding of leadership and what has been lacking. There is inspiration out there if we are willing to learn. ...

Feeling switched off?

Imagine a meeting. In a room. With other humans. You know – old school from back in the mists of time – say last year. How would we have felt if people had said: ‘You have frozen.’ ‘You sound like a dalek.’ ‘Where did you go?’ ‘You are melting… You look a bit like the Terminator..’ ?...

Do less with more: handling lockdown's flatness

A photo taken during lockdown: can you spot what is happening?...

Inspiring hope: Samuel Remi-Akinwale

This blog collection is dedicated to people who are changing our society for the better. I feel privileged to know them and to have worked with them. If I ever risk losing hope, I only have to think of them and their work to regain it....

Inspiring hope: Jass Thethi

This blog collection is dedicated to people who are changing our society for the better. They are asking new and important questions. I feel privileged to know them and to have worked with them. If I ever risk losing hope, I only have to think of them and their work to regain it. I hope they inspire you too....

Adjustments for a new age? How deaf experience can help us under lockdown

What is it like to be deaf under lockdown? Might our experience as deaf people, strangely, give us some advantages? And how could these advantages benefit everyone looking for ways to handle life under lockdown? Here are five reflections and related tips....

Should we be building hope into HR policies?

Here is a question for you: Should HR policy development start from: a) legal compliance and risk avoidance or b) a values-based ethos? Difficult, right? I posed this question to a group of post-graduate HR Management students at Leeds Business School recently. This was part of their Diversity in HR Management module. I had given a lecture earlier about how HR policies can affect employees who are, or who become, disabled. Drawing on my own experience, I encouraged the students to consider what ...

Everything about us without us? Access to Work's dignity deficit

This article describes the process and timeline of applying for an Access to Work grant to support a key business trip to Myanmar (Burma) for me as the deaf Director of a thriving and growing social enterprise, Result CIC. The key points: I applied 6 weeks before travelling to allow good time for planning.AtW did not inform me of: any timeframe enabling me to plan the trip, rules about payment of support workers nor how any grant would be treated alongside my UK one. Communication internally and...

Keep going! 3 tips for feeling calmer in a time of turmoil

There is so much change and uncertainty at the moment. This can knock our confidence. How can we protect our well being?...

Betty Harris and June Street, OBE: lifelong health campaigners

June - thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. We met at Her Majesty the Queen's garden party to which we were invited as charity volunteers. Betty explained that she was planning to lobby Her Majesty concerning your hospital campaign. Can you tell me a little more about that please? We were invited to the Queen's 90th Birthday Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. They were there to represent the local Clinical Commissioning Group' s activity in engaging residents to in "have a voice" in the ...

Are you being heard?

Well do you care?If you can share your experiences with people who are really listening what difference does it make? Nancy Kline, author of 'Time to think', would say ‘all the difference in the world’. I recently had two privileged opportunities to be heard by people who have the power to change the law in this country. This got me thinking....

Could Google's 'small change' make a big change for hardworking disabled people?

In January David Cameron criticised business, universities and the armed forces for their ‘ingrained, institutional and insidious’ attitudes which, he said ‘should shame our nation’. The PM was talking about racial diversity. And his own criticism was immediately levelled at the government’s Civil Service by the Opposition. Another aspect of diversity, disability, rarely appears on the PM’s radar of issues worth bothering with. If it did, he could have easily used the same languag...

Catch up with yourself

Last month I did a daft thing. But it was also a good thing. Sometimes you have to try to keep your promises to yourself. 13 years ago my Mum died of cancer. 2 years after I ran the 5K Race for Life. Mum’s death had affected me so much, it almost literally felt like a race for my life. And then, guess what? It almost was: I struggled big time to finish just 5 km. My lungs felt as if they were about to explode. A few weeks later, they almost did. I had, unbeknown to me, been running with a lung...

Turn your fear on its head: lessons from a scared deaf musician

Do you know the feeling? The request comes through that you have been dreading. And you think 'Uh oh!'. You know – the one which strikes quiet terror into your heart? The one which will find you out? I was on holiday at the time, using the hotel's lobby wi-fi. And there was the email: "Dear Jane, Harry has arranged a piece for a string quintet for the summer concert. You are playing viola. I attach the score. The rehearsal will be on…"Scary right? Perhaps not to you. But I am deaf. OK, ...