patriciaororke

Well done you!  I agree, the wearing of masks is increasingly isolating - Partially deaf myself, I rely heavily on lip reading and have tended to shy away from communicating with people as a result of masks.  If everyone had a modicum of sign language, think how daily interaction would be massively improved during social distancing and face masking!

I am relearning sign language having learned many years ago.  Partially deaf myself, wearing hearing aids since the age of nine, Deaf people occasionally tried to sign with me assuming I'd know BSL so eventually in my 20s became certified at the first level.  I didn't get to practice it on a daily basis however, and family took over, so I was unable to take it any further.

Many years later, I had occasion to pick up many of the basic signs to help me communicate with my young son who had difficulty speaking.

Now, as a teacher, I'm keen to start up a free BSL course at my school as a DofE skill but perhaps with a view to extending it to the whole school - my memory is terrible but I'm hoping with regular teaching, the signs will finally become embedded in my memory, permanently.  I'm delighted to have the support of this course.