Leaderboard

Hi I'm Francesca and I've started to learn BSL as I work at the hospital and we have had previous patients who can only communicate by sign, and no staff who are able to!

My name's Ella and I started learning BSL because I fancied trying something new. I saw some people signing where I work and thought it looked really interesting, so I did some googling and here I am! I'm covering the basics at the moment, but once I know more I'd like to practice with other people

Hi! My name's Isabelle and I'm a medical student. I thought that learning BSL would be a great additional skill to have, especially as a future doctor. I've only just started learning now but would love to become more proficient by practicing with other people!

Hi Samantha, I'm a healthcare student (part of the reason I decided to learn BSL). I'd love to practice some time!

Hi! My name is Codie, I am 18 years old and I have started learning BSL. I am hoping to start university in September, where I will be moving from the countryside to the city to study a course which allows me to work with young children. In my work experience, I have come across children with a range of additional needs, including one boy who had never learned to speak, but was always listening and learning. Nobody in the school knew how to correctly communicate with him, meaning he was often subconsciously excluded by the other young children who found it difficult to be around him. Along with this, I work part time in retail and understand the importance of allowing people to be independent. Learning sign language would make my work place more accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and increase the independence of some people in my area who find it difficult to be alone due to needing to communicate in non-verbal ways. Along with this, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has forced me to leave school early and caused a lot of uncertainty. Learning this new skill is not only beneficial to other people, but also to myself, as it allows me to feel like I'm achieving something, even if it is only minor like learning one or two new signs. I'm excited to see how the rest of my learning goes and what else I can achieve, and to see how BSL helps my day to day life.

hello, i am Anouska. i am 37 and a mother of 3 all with special needs. i first used sign to help my then non-verbal daughter (asd) she can now talk for the most part but has a very bad stutter. i was born deaf but had an operation when i was 5 and after i had to have speech therapy to help me talk "normal". i can lip read but now my hearing is going again and i would like to be able to communicate with people. i have wanted to learn sign properly for many yrs but things always seemed to get in the way. with it being lockdown i have to time to dedicate to learning what i think is a very important skill for anyone to learn/know. i hope to see BSL being taught in all schools in the UK.

I'm learning BSL to better communicate with deaf family members as well as to aid me in my future aspirations of becoming a doctor.