[The video begins with a short title page with pink background and IWD in large bold white letters
International Week of the Deaf text appears below.
A wearing a navy shirt and a woman wearing a green jumper sit on a red sofa. There are windows shining light behind them, and occasionally people walking behind them. They communicate using British Sign Language and hands on Sign Language. ]
Woman: Please introduce yourself.
[The man signs:] Hello! My name is John Nicholl, but people call me ‘JB’,
[John signs a J and a B on his hands]
This is my sign name, which is short for Johnboy. I was born in Ballymoney, Northern Ireland.
[Johnboy takes her hand and the woman signs:]
My name is Heather
[Heather points and twists her index finger below her lip to show her sign name]
I was born in Manchester, England, and then I moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland about 3 years ago.
[The image blurs and white text appears on the screen, reading:]
Heather and Johnboy are communicating using Hands On Sign Language.
Heather is looking off-camera to an interpreter who is relaying what Johnboy is saying.
Johnboy places his hands over Heather’s and follows what is being communicated through touch and movement using a modified version of BSL
The image clears, and we see Heather and Johnboy sitting on the red sofa again.
Heather: What is Usher Syndrome? Can you describe how much you can see? How does Usher’s affect you?
Johnboy: Right, I began to notice I had Usher Syndrome when I was 19 years old. For me, it was like I had tunnel vision. I couldn’t see anyone who was signing to me unless they sat directly opposite me, and their signing stayed within this visual frame.
My eyesight has gradually became worse and then went blurry; now I am almost fully blind. I cannot see any signing at all. So I use hands-on sign language, which is what you can see myself and Heather using now.
[The image fades to black. Johnboy and Heather reappear on the red sofa]
I think when I was 15, I struggled to see in the dark, when we were all younger at the Deaf club, we used to go out to the park drinking and everyone was signing. At the time, I struggled to see; I always wondered at the back of my mind, how did they all communicate with each other? I kept it to myself, but I did speak to my sister, it seemed as if everyone struggled to communicate in the dark. So, I left it.So, then when I was 19 – My partner, would wave to get my attention, but I wouldn’t see it. But what I don’t know, I don’t know. I then went to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, but at the time it didn’t really affect me. I was still driving, still able to travel independently. At the start, it was mostly the ‘night blindness’ but hadn’t yet progressed to tunnel vision When I was about…maybe 22, that’s when my vison started to deteriorate into tunnel vision.At the age of 26, that’s when the tunnel vision began. I was struggled to see people signing to me so I needed them to sign within the visual frame. I also had to give up driving so, it’s progressively become worse. It has affected my ability to see at night and when there is a bright light. An easy way to describe it – it’s similar to an old camera when there is a bright light shining down and blurs the photo. This is the same as my vision, when there is a bright light, it makes my vision blurry. So it has affected me in both ways, at night it’s difficult to see, and if it’s too bright.
Johnboy: Ah, interesting!
[The image fades to black. Johnboy and Heather reappear on the red sofa. Heather signs to Johnboy.]
Heather: Can you explain, how do you adapt when your vision deteriorated and you couldn’t access Sign Language any more – how did you adapt your Sign Language to suit you?
Johnboy: Right – As you will Deaf people rely on lip patters to understand meaning when using BSL, but for someone who is Deafblind like myself – I’m fully blind, so I cannot see lip patterns – there are some signs that can have various meanings; As an example, this sign, is the sign for reception. I thought the person was saying telephone. But they weren’t! They were saying the opposite. The sign for reception can be signed like this, representing a desk, which makes it clearer that we are talking about reception. Another example, is earlier Heather asked me, do you want a coffee? And I said, yes please. Then she asked if I wanted sugar but I thought she was talking about lemons so I said yes. She then realised and adapted her original sign to another sign which also means sugar, which I then understood! We had a laugh then. It is an easy mistake to make. We have lots of the same signs with various meanings, so it is important that people have patience as I may ask them to repeat a sign until I have received the full information.
[The image fades to black. Johnboy and Heather reappear on the red sofa. Heather signs:]
Heather –While, it’s hard for Deaf people to access interpreters; it’s even harder for Deafblind people. Someone an interpreter will be provided for the Deaf but then there is a further fight for Deafblind people as well. John Boy, what do you think?
John Boy – I agree, because, you see I was born Deaf and I have a Deaf identity, it was only later in life that I became blind. Deaf people have sign language, blind people can hear but Deafblind people have hands on sign language. We should have equality for all. Interpreters for Deaf people and Deafblind Interpreters using hands on sign language - perfect equality!
[The image fades to black. Johnboy and Heather reappear on the red sofa. Heather signs:]
I also use Visual Frame Signing so for example, if you were signing the word ‘dog’, here, the sign is a pat on the leg, but I can’t see that. In this case, the sign would need to be adapted, for me to see.
Or, someone might say, ‘I’m going to ASDA’, and normally, the sign is two taps on the back pocket but again, I can’t see that. So, this would need to be signed within my field of vision. So, sometimes signs need to be adapted to suit the visual frame.
[The image blurs and white text appears on the screen, reading:]
Through Hands On Signing, Heather also describes the mood and emotion of people in the conversation.
Heather: Perfect! Chloe said that’s perfect! Peter, and his sign name is this
[Heather shows Peter’s sign name, both hands coming away from mouth similar to the word thank you repeatedly].
Peter has a very large smile, and Aaron is the same – smiling away, everyone here has big smiles.
[An image with pink background and IWD in large bold letters with images of lots of people inside them
International Week of the Deaf text appears below.
The video ends with a white closing image with the British Deaf Association Logo, and www.bda.org.uk below with the text:
‘The BDA stands for Deaf Equality Access and Freedom of Choice’. The letters D E A F are in red to highlight them.
International Week of the Deaf - Sign Language rights for Deafblind people and people with disabilities
Why do we need Sign Language Rights for Deafblind people? Heather and Johnboy discuss their experiences of becoming Deafblind, what it's like to lose your vision, and equality for all...
#IWD2019