Hi from Julia in Bedfordshire

[Julia French]

Hi,

I’m Julia and I live just on the outskirts of N. Bedfordshire.<br /><br />I’m a volunteer trainer for St. John Ambulance and I help to run a Cadet group (aged between 10-17), and we do all sorts of activities etc., not only First Aid. Currently we are doing a “Communication with the Deaf and/or Blind” course with them, and we had someone who was profoundly deaf come in, with an interpreter, and taught us a little bit about BSL, and it has re-sparked my interest in learning it again.<br /><br />I learnt a little about BSL when I was a Cadet myself about the age of 12 (hitting my 30’s this year…eek!), and also learnt some Makaton (although I know that it’s not used as much as BSL now), but watching the person who came in, really has made my interest in learning BSL come right back up again, and not only to be able to use it within my St. John Ambulance role, but also in my everyday work role as well.

For my everyday paid role, I am a Passenger Assistant and help take children and adults with special needs to and from school, home, day centres etc. in a car. Most of the clients I deal with have special needs and I have come across a couple of them who use BSL as a normal everyday thing…which when you don’t know much about it, can make the journey a little awkward. So learning BSL is definitely going to help my own communication skills as well.

I already know the BSL alphabet, and I am getting the hang of fingerspelling quickly, so that is definitely a help. But I am also interested in learning about signing normally as well. I am hoping to be able to start the online course (via here) hopefully this week, but I thought it would be a good start for me to sign up to the forum as well, so I can pick up other tips etc.<br /><br />Thank you for reading about me<br /><br />Julia x

[Bec Meachin]

HI Julia, Welcome! It sounds like you have done some interesting stuff so far with signing. I think that no matter what job you do learning BSL would be helpful, even if it was just helping one person.

I’ve just started level 2. Quite a jump from level 1 but enjoying it. I have to describe people and faces etc. it is quite hard to do!

Enjoy learning! ? Bec x

[Pam]

Hi Julia 

l live in Bedfordshire too, Houghton Regis, where are you? I am just coming to the end of level 2 and planning to complete level 3 by Easter. 

Pam