“I feel like my bubble has burst”.

A service user  already accesses our BID Services for practical support with sensory impairment and recently started attending the regular Deaf Café. She currently has 10% remaining hearing and is becoming more fluent in BSL after a lifetime of communicating through speech. She attends the café to improve her BSL, develop a positive deaf identity and make new friends.

This service user lost her confidence travelling into the city centre in recent years due to being attacked from behind. She didn’t hear her attacker approaching due to her hearing loss. It therefore takes a lot for her to attend the group which is held in Leeds Playhouse, and sometimes she looked visibly anxious on arrival. She has also been shamed for using BSL in public by a family member who told her it was “embarrassing” and that people are staring at her.

After being encouraged by our support worker to attend a few Deaf Cafe sessions, she was invited to join the Unheard BSL movement sessions, she was anxious about this next step but was invited to give it a try without any commitment. In the first Unheard movement session the tutor was impressed with the focused way she was expressing herself through movement and described it as deep and spiritual. After the session AP said “I feel like my bubble has burst”.

At the Deaf Café the service user increasingly joins in with conversations, is improving her BSL and making new friends. She has been supported to buy discounted £10 Leeds Playhouse tickets for a BSL performance. She has gone on to bond with other D/deaf and hearing group members. In the third week she supported an elderly hearing lady that became upset during the session. She has gained confidence through allowing herself to be creatively vulnerable, process her emotions, bond with and support others through their vulnerabilities. Her use of BSL is valued by the older hearing ladies in the group who are curious to learn some signs.