Late afternoon Monday 1st November 2021 I recieved a text, which caught me off guard as I rarely get texts unless it’s for a bill or a parcel delivery,everyone else just Facebook messages or WhatsApps me typically.
I unlocked my phone to find it was from an unknown number.. brilliant I’ll block and delete that then .
Anyone who knows me personally will know I don’t accept calls from unknown phone numbers and just let it ring off before doing a mad Google search and blocking if it tells me it could be spam. Honestly I’m awful with unknown numbers. I think it’s partly down to my deafness and the panic of what if they have an accent,what if I can’t hear or understand them etc .If I’m expecting a call I usually find out the phone number in advance and save it to my phone.. honestly I’m the worst with phone calls and unknown numbers ,anyone that wants to call me text me first if I don’t have your number or give me yours and I’ll call you… Actually no stick with the first option text me then call me 🤣.
Anyway I’ve got side tracked now , getting back onto it. I luckily opened the text as the opening line that I could read said ” Hi Bethan it’s..” ok so it’s someone who clearly knows me then.. I best open it and actually read it first.
The text read:
” Hi Bethan, it’s Lois at BBC Essex. I hope you’re well! I’m getting in touch as we’d love to have you on the programme tomorrow morning for a chat about the importance of learning British Sign Language! We’re chatting about how the interest in learning it here in Essex has shot up since Rose has been performing on Strictly. We’d love to get your thoughts tomorrow morning – are you available for 10 mins on Zoom tomorrow morning just after 0900am? Many thanks! Lois”
Good job I did open it then really! At first I felt oh my goodness ,why me? ,Surely there are other deaf people in Essex who would be much better at this than I would ( there definitely are many many lovely people I know of personally in the deaf community in Essex who would’ve and most definitely are much better and more active than I am with heaps more knowledge,understanding ,facts and experience) yes I have done a few interviews for radio, TV and newspapers as well as other articles now but it definitely doesn’t get any less terrifying .
I then had the omg can I do this? Am I good enough? Why me? Do I do this? don’t know. Honestly it’s so nerve wracking and terrifying at the best of times let alone having a little one .. my thoughts were then I don’t want my daughter on camera due to the whole “dad” in case he comes across it ,I don’t want her crying/ babbling to be heard over me because if there are deaf people listening or anyone really it would just be too much , what did I do with her? Did I pop her in another room and just hope she would be ok and not get into mischief? Did I try to get her down for s contact nap so she would be asleep on me and could position the camera away from her? What if she woke up crying? What if she wanted feeding?
When I took a moment to step back and breathe I thought you know what yes this is terrifying,yes I’ve no idea how I’m going to make this work and it’ll be a juggling act but I want to do this,not for myself but for my daughter. Sounds strange I know but I wanted to do it for her so she could see mummy doing something to help others and helping to raise awareness and highlight things that are important to me and how it’s ok to be different and how it’s ok to stand up for what you believe in .. ok I know she is too young to understand or know any of this now nor would she have a clue what I was doing but I liked to think at that moment one day she may come across the recording or feel passionate about something or want to challenge something herself . I personally never will hide my daughter away from my deafness and differences,not just mine but anyone’s I want her to grow up knowing and understanding everyone is different and that’s ok and to be accepting of this ,be more empathetic and essentially be that friend to someone I always wished for.
I replied and said yes I was up for being interviewed, Lois quickly replied acknowledging my message and confirming I would be on just after 9am tomorrow morning ,ok now the nerves had really hit.
About an hour or so later I found out a local deaf pub was also being interviewed Which was brilliant but equally made me even more nervous..what could I say that would be different to them? How were are questions going to be similar or vary? As I knew they would know all the facts , statistics and percentages so what actually could I contribute?
I posted on my social media letting everyone know about the interview and heard back from a few local deaf friends that they too had been approached , (actually before I had been) and how they couldn’t do it or were not doing it as the BBC team had not or could not make it accessible enough for them to take part
This was awful to hear not because I wasn’t their first choice although that was a little bit of an ouch moment I can’t lie (although honestly they would’ve been much better interviewees) but the fact they wanted to speak to deaf people and get their input on thoughts,feelings of Rose Ayling Ellis first deaf strictly contestant and about us as a individuals yet they were not making it accessible.
Nothing unreasonable lip speakers ,speech to text and or interpreters which could so easily have been arranged and sorted , especially with the interview taking place over a zoom video call due to the BBC Essex Radio team wanting to post the video with captions to social media so the deaf community could still watch ,enjoy and be a part of it.
Why interview and speak to deaf people but not be inclusive or make it accessible?!
The morning of the interview I was awake super early ,I didn’t really sleep I was so nervous and trying to think of what they might ask , what I could say ,what would help raise awareness and understanding? Would I make a complete idiot out of myself?
I quickly started jotting some notes of things I felt would be important and beneficial to get into the interview even if I just reiterated what deaf pub had to say.
I set my daughter up with lots of toys I knew she loved and could play happily with in the lounge ,set the TV up with the radio station and my phone to record the interview before setting up the tablet in my daughter’s bedroom.
Safe to say yes I was absolutely petrified and so so nervous ,I think it’s more the unknown,not knowing what will be asked ,knowing it’s live and trying not to make an idiot of myself or stumble throughout the interview especially while waiting to be interviewed sitting in the wings waiting and hearing other people being interviewed and calling in relating to the topic and trying to ensure I wasn’t just parroting and repeating everything they had said.
I was second up after Tommy from deaf pub and he gave a brilliant interview,so informative about how and why deaf pub came about ,his own experiences growing up deaf in a hearing world ..crikey how was I going to follow that?!
I got asked questions about strictly .. can’t lie never watched it until this series and that was only because of Rose being on the programme and hopefully with her about to make some serious noise in raising awareness of deafness and sign language as well as making some true history to the deaf community . I mean how many people can you say you’ve honestly seen on your TV screens while you were growing up and even today? Where is that inclusion? Deaf people have always been about and have always had a voice not that it’s ever been listened to or heard before.
I decided to try and get some hard facts into the interview about how many people in Essex alone are diagnosed deaf,how many children each day are born deaf with hearing parents with no deaf background or understanding . How and why it is so important to have representation and see deaf people on TV screens and our voices heard and the impact that can and will make to deaf young people especially children.
Unfortunately the interview was never posted onto social media nor was it ever transcribed ,for that reason I will share the recording here and will then try to get a type up done of the interview if anyone is able to help with that , that would be brilliant if not I’ll give it my all to make it as accessible as possible.
Apolgises I’ve had to crop the interview down, originally I wanted to post the full interview of 30 mins of previous speakers , Tommy and myself but apparently it’s too long to be able to do that and it’s too long to share Tommy and mine as well as anything over 5 minutes I have to pay for ,and I don’t pay for my blog so apolgises I’ve had to crop it down to just my interview. I just have to say it honestly is always such a privilege to be able to talk about deafness and raise awareness and I’m so fortunate to be asked to do interviews and articles ,it still honestly throws me and takes me by surprise each and everytime it’s happened and honestly I hope it’s not the end because there is still a long way to go with deaf awareness and sign language awareness. I feel more determined and passionate since having my daughter and the values,ethics ,strength , determination and beliefs I would like to give her as well as the world I want for my daughter to grow up in.
goshgurl95 