Introducing myself

[John O]

I work across two libraries and have been able to sign up to a British Sign Language course as part of keeping our skills up-to-date during the pandemic. I undertook a short class in school but had always wanted to learn more, (not that I can remember anything from that long ago!). Some of our customers struggle hearing us and a few of our current ones are fluent in sign language, so it would be beneficial to not only interact with them, but to promote the library service as accessible to others who perhaps feel put off by communication barriers. A lot of learned behaviours and perceptions form during your early years, so I am enthusiastic to get to the point where I could communicate - if only a little - with Deaf/deaf children visiting, so that they are confident in having a "voice". A more selfish reason for learning this is that I struggle with learning languages, so having a work reason to undertake studying will be helpful in overcoming a personal weakness.