Evaluation of my project

I decided on my topic through a combination of a couple things. The first is I wanted to learn a new skill as part of my EPQ. Sign language is a unique form of communication which requires use of your hands, facial expressions, body and lip movement. You can develop skills in listening, reading body language and you become able to communicate and understand with a new group of people. Learning sign language crossed my mind before when I overheard a conversation between two of my work colleagues. I work on checkouts at Sainsbury’s, and I have a colleague, Kieran, who is profoundly deaf. Kieran places a sign at the end of his till to inform customers when they speak to him, to speak clearly or he will not hear them. The conversation concerned how more than once, customers had seen this sign and decided to go to another till. After hearing this conversation it made me want to learn about how society could be more inclusive towards the deaf community, and if learning sign language could help me to understand these challenges facing the deaf community.

In able to get a sense of where my secondary research was going to take me I started with a mind map of ideas, from this I began to plan the stages of my research. I started with looking at statistics and the history of the deaf community to be able to begin to understand deaf culture. Some more secondary research I conducted was different carrier paths for deaf people and the challenges that come with a job and stable future. Next, the importance of deaf representation in the media which is so important for young, old, deaf and hearing people as it normalizes the disability and encourages inclusivity. I also investigated BSL in schools and if it could be a potential GCSE but also the support schools provide for deaf children. Something I hadn’t even considered before starting this project was the correlation between the deaf community and mental health, but also how deaf people can be more vulnerable to abuse. These challenges I have researched facing the deaf community lead me to further research into how awareness of the deaf community can be shared and spread. 

One of the reasons I started learning sign language was to help draw some conclusions about my topic question. These were how long it took to learn, how easy the language was to learn, will I use it in everyday life and has learning it helped me to understand some of the issues facing the deaf community. I started learning it by watching YouTube videos which were only getting me so far in terms of I was building my vocabulary, but I couldn’t string a functioning sentence. Then after looking into many different courses, I found the website British Sign and a course on the student learning portal, and these courses teach you the vocabulary but also the unique grammar of BSL.

For my final project I decided to do an artefact opposed to a dissertation as it presents my signing skills. I have created two videos of me signing to children’s shows like a BSL interpreter would. By doing this end project I have been allowed to improve the speed of my signing, the grammar of BSL sentences and visually display what I have been learning throughout my whole project.  I started with research into sign language interpretation- such as it’s importance and how it is done. Then to learn the children’s shows, I first transcribed the episodes to make sure I knew all the words and if I did not, look them up. I learnt to sign the videos by playing the episode’s on a low speed and when I could sign them through, I would speed the episode up.

To stay on top of deadlines I used the app ‘Monday’ which helped me to delegate my time between the different parts of my project. I did fall behind on some deadlines however, I was able to make sure to readjust my priorities for my project. Throughout my blog I posted updates months apart explaining where I was in my project and the next steps I wanted to take. This applied pressure on myself to get tasks done and allowed me to track the changes I made and how the changes impacted my research. One of my main struggles towards the end of my project was performing the presentation confidently and to a high standard. To overcome my anxiety I had to make sure I had a feeling I was prepared enough. This involved an extensive plan, pre-prepared speech and dynamic presentation slides.

 

I will use the skills I have learnt in my higher education and in my future profession. I have learnt key skills in organisation and how to successfully teach myself material. These are important lessons I can use whilst studying at university when conducting my own research. I want to go into a healthcare profession and if there was a deaf patient it would be amazing to communicate with them in their first language, to make them feel more comfortable in a very stressful and worrying environment. Sign language also makes you better at reading body language and facial expressions and overall communication so I do believe these skills will improve my patient relationships in the future. If I was to do my project again I would spend more time learning about mental health in the deaf community as I found this particularly interesting. I might have conducted some primary research into the topic and produced my own findings.

 

My question is ‘Can I teach myself to an interpreter level of British Sign Language, in order to help understand some of the challenges facing the deaf community?’. I would say learning BSL has provided me with opportunities I would never have experienced if I hadn’t begun this journey learning the language. It takes years of experience to live interpret for somebody, but I have learnt enough to understand sign language to basic level and originally set myself the target of getting to level 1 and I am up to level 3. For everyone I do not think it is necessary to learn BSL given that deaf people are amazing at understanding facial expressions and lip-reading, also technology such as cochlear implants and hearing aids have definitely made a difference in terms of improving communication. However, I do think if more people were to learn some simple signs it can make someone who is deaf feel a lot more understood in a conversation and relaxed. I would say learning BSL for me has made me want to be more aware of the challenges of the deaf community as I've loved learning about the people who use it.