Our January meeting

Our January meeting – British Sign Language with Shahbana

We had a lively and interactive January meeting learning some BSL (British Sign Language) with Shahbana, a BSL interpreter and teacher and a friend of EEWI member Tammy's daughter Charlotte, who is Deaf.

As well as interpreting at events and on TV, BSL supports people at work – Shahbana's interpreting has taken her into a huge variety of settings including offices, beekeeping, Italian cookery, bootcamps, weddings, places of worship and on trips abroad, all through recommendation.

Shahbana took us through the alphabet, which has right-and left-handed versions and each of us had a go at spelling our name. We were interested to discover how subtle signing is, for instance the little shake to signal numbers in the tens.

We heard about the difference between BSL and SSE (sign-supported English), one-handed sign language for babies, how signing varies around the world, cultural differences that affect signs – how we drink tea, for instance – and even differences between regions of the UK. 

We discussed the growing visibility of signage in TV and film and how texting and Facetime have made a difference for young Deaf people. We asked about its history – Deaf people have always found a way to communicate – and looked back to times when Deaf people were forced to do speech therapy.

Shahbana told us about her own path of learning BSL, including going along to Deaf clubs, which welcome hearing people learning BSL, to practise her skills. Shahbana and Charlotte are currently learning Deaf-Blind language.

And we discussed the pros and cons of online and in-person interpreting. Charlotte was strongly in favour of in-person interpreting, which picks up more nuance. 

Was there anything we particularly wanted to learn how to sign, we were asked as we discussed whole-word signs. We said that we'd like to be able to welcome Deaf people to our stalls and have some simple language to serve them.

Tea and cake, anyone? And pointing – totally OK in BSL!

A massive thank-you to Shahbana for a hugely interesting and enjoyable evening, which left many of us keen to learn more. 

Our January coffee morning: 

Friday 26th January, meet between 10.30am and 11am

The Barrell Boulangerie, Mare Street, Hackney (just over the road from Hackney Empire).