Deaf Representation

To fully appreciate the beauty of any language, you have to also find beauty in the culture. For a lot of languages that are traditionally learnt at school, they often come with discussions on culture, whether that be history, art, film and television, what’s considered polite vs rude…

The Deaf community also has a rich culture built on centuries of discrimination in the Hearing world. However, when I ask people to name me someone who is Deaf, very few people can instantly answer…

For a lot of Deaf people, having no representation enabled Hearing people to abuse them further; if you aren’t aware there is someone else out there like you, and thriving in a career you were told you couldn’t possibly achieve, why would you think otherwise?

In addition, by not having representation, Hearing people (intentionally or otherwise) put in place glass ceilings. For example, I do not know of any veterinary focused interpreters (I do know of a Deaf Veterinary Nurse!), which in turn means there wouldn’t be accurate BSL translations in conferences or even during university lectures, which in turn means that Deaf children who want to be a vet are discouraged– they simply “can’t do it”

…But unless someone Deaf breaks that ceiling, no one can know for certain the capabilities of the Deaf community. We should give everyone the best chance to prove they’re capable of living the life they want.

When people do answer my question about if they know someone Deaf, I often get back a reply of someone they saw on TV, or read about in the news, or popped up on their TikTok feed– that’s the power of representation. Suddenly, Deaf people can do things beyond expectations. That’s empowering, and I want to share some Deaf representation with you all to expand your worldview.

All of us should strive to have a society built on accessibility; it is not up to any one person to decide on behalf of someone else what they can or can’t do (well… within reason!)

I’ve tried to group folks into catergories for ease of use, but for the best “full picture” I recommend to explore all and have a combination in the back of your mind at any one time:

Real-life Deaf People

Sometimes it’s easy to believe that there are simply no Deaf people in the UK because you personally haven’t met or befriended someone Deaf yet……

Entertainment and News sites

I wanted to also include a list of sites that aren’t focused on one particular person, but rather a nice spread of all sorts of…