Deaf Girly and Captioning Awareness Week

This week - from 6-11 November it's Captioning Awareness Week, which raises awareness of captioning and live subtitling.

It's a bold statement but I'm going to go ahead and make it:

Captioning saves lives

And let me tell you how...

For me, saving someone's life isn't just about restarting their heart, curing them of some hideous disease or pushing them out of the way of an out of control bus. Saving someone's life is about giving them back the quality of life they deserve, that they maybe don't have through no fault of their own.

In my case, with my deafness, I spent much of my younger years - before I found out I was deaf - falling asleep at the theatre. Feeling stupid because I couldn't follow Shakespeare, wondering why people went to see musicals as there were no intelligable words being said.

After I discovered I was deaf, I continued to do all of the above. I went to see Richard III with Kenneth Branagh in it, and followed precisely not one word of it. I went to see The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and to this day could not tell you what it was about. I went to see Les Miserables and honestly made up my own lyrics while sat there watching Eponine die.

And then along came captions. And they saved my life. My quality of life. My belief in my own intelligence. And they gave me back the chance to have an amazing time at the theatre and leave feeling elated, educated and included.

I went to see King Lear at Donmar Warehouse with Derek Jacobi, with Stagetext captions, and I sobbed, held my breath and came out completely exhuasted by the amazing work I had just witnessed. Without captions, it would have been a confusing, somewhat disturbing event with an old man with a beard on stage. I would have died of boredom.

Stagetext saved my life.

I went to see Les Miserables with captions. I realised the beauty of the lyrics, the rawness of the story and wow... how I missed out on that the first time around. Cats - 30-odd years after I had first seen it... I had no idea there was a storyline.

Stagetext brought them all to life.

In fact, I've lost count of the number of things that Stagetext has made accessible for me.

Tennessee Williams - my favourite playwright, the subject of my university disertation, my dream dinner party guest - I've seen three of his plays now because of captions. And all of them were so much more amazing because I wasn't having to read along with the script. Although to be fair, I could probably recite A Streetcar named Desire off by heart anyway.

Captioning live theatre is not as simple as pressing text 888 and I am constantly in awe of the preparation, people and cost that goes into making these performances happen. And when I get cross that there aren't more, I remember that it's partly our job to shout about it, raise awareness about it and help make it become even easier, affordable and commonplace for captions to be a part of live talks and theatre.

Captioning saves lives people. It saved mine.

Happy Captioning Awareness Week.

DG
xx

Deaf Girly and subtitled Star Wars The Last Jedi

Today really is a very Thankful Friday.

Last night, FJM and I were doing some #HOTY (honeymoon of the year) planning and yet again said how much we'd love to have a date night at the cinema in Edinburgh to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi when we up there for our honeymoon.

FJM is a massive Star Wars fan, and he's always been very lovely at waiting until a subtitled showing to watch it so we get to see it together. We managed this for The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and I was keen to make sure he didn't have to wait too long after the 14th December release date for the next one.

So last night, I tweeted several Edinburgh cinemas, several got back to me to see if they could help. But for some reason I missed Vue off my original tweet. Then the lovely Heather Belmonte tweeted them for me, which was seconded by HD Pup Larry and today, Vue confirmed over Twitter that there will be a subtitled showing, in Edinburgh, during our honeymoon, at a really sociable time, so FJM and I can go on our first newlywed date to the cinema together and watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

I cannot stop grinning at this. We hardly ever get date nights at the cinema. The last time we tried to go – on Valentine's Day to see Lego Batman Movie – it was sold out. So we went for Wahaca instead and marvelled at the fact that so many people chose to see Lego Batman with subtitles for Valentine's Day!

I really hope that Vue realise how happy they have made me and FJM. And I really also want to thank my fab Twitter followers for the retweets for all my various cinema tweets yesterday and today... it worked. Vue helped!

So, if you happen to be in Edinburgh that night at the showing of Star Wars, look out for the blonde deaf girl and her lovely FJM – I will be the one with ALL the snacks and the big newly-wed grin on my face!

Happy Friday peeps

DG
x

Deaf Girly on being brave

Every year on this day, I write a blog. It's always a blog about one of the best people I know. A blog about beer, Flashdance and Grand Designs. About learning to live in and love London.

Memories are funny aren't they. Sometimes I struggle to remember what I did last week, but the memories of London Uncle are so super clear.

So always on this day I remember him. Let off a balloon with a message if I can. Visit his tree if I can, but mostly I just thank him for helping me be me.

He taught me how to:

• Explore London – with him and London Aunt, I learnt the pleasure of just wandering around a neighborhood looking through people's windows.
• Buy a weekly travel card – at 15, this for some reason left me paralysed with fear. The idea of trying to hear all the quantifying questions. He helped me every week until I one day just did it by myself.
• Cook edible potatoes – he was also amazing at all cooking, particularly thai green curry.
• Appreciate the delights of the home shopping channel – oddly soothing when watched with a beer.
• Obsessively watch BBC Breakfast news for the London travel updates – I became a true 90s London commuter thanks to him.
• Stay calm when you'd just accidentally dropped a toddler on her head
• Stay calm when you'd just watched a toddler throw herself down some glass stairs.
• Stay calm when the same toddler ate five Krispy Kremes in a row and then threw up.
• Smile so hard your face might fall off – he did this the day he married London Aunt. That was a very good day.
• Soak rice for longer than you think and rinse it well.
• Be brave.

And then he was gone.

And I miss him. Fourteen years on I miss him just as much as I missed him then.

And if he was here now, I'd like to think he'd be pretty happy about what I'm up to, and how whenever I'm brave, I always think of him. He made it so much easier to be and still does.

Deaf Girly and the wedding planning

My first novel is about a deaf girl planning her wedding. When I first started writing it, I was single and couldn't ever imagine planning my own wedding. And yet here I am planning it.

I find planning anything as a deaf person quite stressful. The quick and easy 'pick up the phone' option is not available to me, and with FJM in another country, I found myself getting creative to sort things out. 

I should however point out, that even from 4,000 miles away, in a very different time zone and with a load of work to do, FJM has very much been part of our wedding planning. And he's been instrumental in the honeymoon planning, which I am very very excited about.

But even with that, often the day-to-day stuff often falls to just me. 

If anything, being a deaf bride-to-be has made decision making easier. I've chosen things based on who got back to my email first. I've asked around and contacted friends of friends, and I've had some amazing responses.

When I used the NGT type talk app to call my insurance company to make sure my engagement ring was listed on the contents insurance, the lovely type talk person congratulated me on my engagement and said my ring sounded lovely. I mean, how many hearing people get that eh?

My wedding photographer's enquiry form asked me to describe my fiancé in three words. I said 'He's my ears' and he liked that so much he got straight back to me and now he's doing our wedding. He was one of only two wedding photographers who I emailed who got back to me. But I think I have really honestly truly found the best one.

Deafness is a bullshit filter. You end up with the people who are willing to make the effort. This goes for personal, professional and indeed wedding relationships. The lovely person organising our evening venue has been quite possibly the most helpful person ever. She gets back to my emails as quickly as if I had lifted the phone, sorts things that are well outside of her remit and generally makes me feel like everything has been organised by me, when really it's been organised by her.

Our vicar, also amazing. Truly wonderful. Actually both the vicars who said yes to marrying us at very short notice were truly wonderful. Perhaps vicars in general are just wonderful.

Then there's my ma, who organised dress shopping, spoke to florists and came with me to listen in when I booked my wedding hair appointments. It's been nice to have company on these things. And it was fun to go to Hobbycraft and buy all the little extra bits and bobs that we want to make our day extra special.

The one thing I have struggled with though, which I didn't really expect to find that hard, is choosing the music for the church. As someone who dearly loves music and before deafness diagnosis adamantly wanted to be a professional violinist, working out what to have at our wedding has left me feeling quite sad at times. I don't want stuff that's out of my frequency. I don't want stuff that makes me feel deaf. I have deliberately designed our wedding day to work with my deafness. I had a bit of an emotional blah about the whole thing if I'm honest.

And for now, we're a bit undecided about it. We're having Christmas carols because yeah, why not, but I wonder if for everything else, I might just say to the musical director 'I can't hear more than an octave above middle C and I really want to hear my wedding music' and see what he can do....

But really though, the most important thing about getting married is that FJM and I get to spend the rest of our lives together. Being us. A team. Something that seems to work really rather well. 

When I am with FJM, I don't feel deaf. I'm just me. He's my ears without me noticing. He gives me an invisible cloak of confidence. I feel like a superhero who can do anything. And I love him very much.

Happy weekend peeps

DG

x

Deaf Girly and the deaf wobble

Usually when I go quiet on here, it's a sign that everything in my deaf world is tickety-boo and marvellous. It's a sign that I am comfortable in my deaf skin and ambling my way through life with the level of accessibility that I need. Usually the silences are good.

I'd be lying if I said this was the case right now.

I've taken a new job. I love this job. Fiercely love this job. But it is very hard, both in the subject matter I am having to get my head around for it and in the fact that it's a much more corporate environment that I am normally used to.

There are meetings. Lots of them. There are global meetings. Which means there is Skype for Business.

My team has been amazing. They've done video instead of voice calls at 7am, which no one should be forced to do, and helped me when the reception goes juddery and I miss the key point of a whole 20-minute phone call. It's not my team that is the problem.

It's me.

I seem to have lost my ability to say 'Hello, I am DG, I am deaf but completely able to do this job amazingly well, however here's how I have to do it differently to everyone else...' and then refused take part in 14-people Skype for Business calls.

I have lost faith in the fact that I am good enough in spite of my deafness and I am becoming increasingly crippled by worries that not being able to take part in Skype calls will in some way harm my fledgling career in this industry.

I AM BEING AN IDIOT (although I don't think the above worry is completely unjustified).

But in all honestly, what will really harm my career is pretending that I can do the Skype calls and then floundering around like a fish out of water whenever I hear anything that sounds even remotely like my name on that call... neutral answers don't work well on important business calls. This is not chit chat in a loud bar.

So it seems that I am having a deafness wobble. I haven't had one of them in quite some time. But I am deafinitely having one now.

The unemployment statistic for deaf people hangs around my consciousness like the bad car that used to follow the Top Gear guys on their Christmas Specials. It's always there whispering in my ear, which is remarkable really because I can't hear whispering.

Over the years, I've given so many people bolstering chats about how to be assertive in the workplace as a deaf person but recently it's all gone out of the window for me, and I don't know what to do to change that.

So yes, here's a blog. It's about struggling with my deafness. Something I haven't done for a really long time. Something that's hit me quite out of the blue.

Life's a bitch sometimes. Life would be easier if I could make phone calls and follow Skype for Business video calls more easily. But would that make me any better at my job. I really hope not. I hope that I am good enough as I am. And it's that thought I am hanging on to while I am hanging in there.

Happy Tuesday peeps.

DG
x

Deaf Girly and classical music

I didn't know I couldn't hear until I was 10.

I have this really clear memory of seeing two girls signing to each other in a garden centre when I was about six years old and being fascinated about the idea of being deaf... little did I know, I already was.

I didn't know that birds sang or green men beeped or that song lyrics were meant to be understood. I thought dictation was a creative writing exercise and the challenge of French listening was actually hearing the words not understanding them.

So at six years old, I had only one ambition – to be a professional violinist. I was sure this was going to be my chosen career path and was determined to play with or without a violin, which is why my mum found me trying to play her guitar under my chin with a pencil on one occasion.

And after every single classical music concert my rents took me to, I fought my way to the front and wanted to say hello to the lead violinist every time, to tell them I thought they were amazing and I was going to be just like them.

For my seventh birthday, my grandparents bought me a tiny second-hand violin and lessons to go with it and I was smitten. But I did find it hard. I remember wondering why the sound ran out when I started to learn positions and why my teacher used to tell me I was out of tune, when I couldn't hear it. But I still didn't know I was deaf.

At 10, I got my second musical wish and took up the flute. With ready-made tuneful notes, I found this instantly easier and skipped the grades as I made progress. But this was also the year I was told I was deaf.

But I didn't feel deaf and there was no way I was giving up music. I was aiming for Grade 8 in both the flute and violin, but gradually it became apparent that the violin was not going to happen. I remember crying in lessons, trying to play my Grade 6 music but not hearing it, trying to feel what was going on but not having a clue.

Devastated about the violin, I tried the viola – a whole new clef to contend with. And to be honest, my resentment that it wasn't a violin meant my time with this instrument was short. And then, after discovering one in the music room at my school, I picked up the double bass. And I fell in love. It was rich and deep and wonderful. I could hear it and play amazing things again. And I did.

But then the double bass at school was stolen... a drunken man phoned the police and told them he'd seen someone running up the road with a giant cello and they hadn't believed him. And that was that really. Double basses are expensive you know. Plus I had a mini. And I was heading off to university.

In my flute lessons it was different – sure, a lot of it was out of my frequency, but I could feel it through my diaphragm and so long as I got this, the fingering and a collection of other things right, I could hit the notes. I made Grade 8, I did my Performance Recital Certificate. I felt like I'd beaten my deafness.

I should also point out I had an amazing teacher who taught me how to visualise sound. I can still do this even now, which is how I hear in my head when something is described to me or transposed into a frequency I can hear.

However, in my twenties, I went through a similar grieving process with my flute that I had done with my violin. I cried tears of frustration in my lessons as music sailed out of my frequency and became nothing. And then I stopped that, too. Playing music at that point only seemed to remind me what I had lost. I even stopped going to concerts for a while. They made me too emotional.

Anyway, for Father's Day this year, I told my Pa I would take him to a classical music concert of his choice in London and sent him lists of the various ones that were going on. He finally selected one that had a programme he would like, but also had a programme he thought I might hear OK. The Mozart by Candlelight was quickly dismissed. I can hear about 10% of Mozart I reckon.

So we headed out to see Fulham Symphony Orchestra to enjoy works my fellow deafie Beethoven and a 20th-century composer called Walton. The Beethoven – Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello – featured the Linos Piano Trio and was absolutely amazing. The cello –  the only one of the trio that I could hear had the most amazing part and sang out over everything, giving me quite a lump in my throat, and as I was sat on the side of my beloved double basses, I also had them guiding me through the musical score. And I felt happy.

The Walton – Symphony Number 1 – however I struggled with. There was no single instrument leading the melody in my frequency and so I struggled to find coherence over the noise of the timpani and the brass. It made me realise that I do best when there's a musical work written for orchestra and one other musical instrument – preferably in the bass clef. Cellos, bassoons, double basses, but also brass, which all seem to be more audible to me.

But what was lovely, was how much it reminded me of my childhood. Of going to concerts with my Pa. Of him sharing his encyclopedic musical knowledge with me and teaching me about the composers behind the score. And for a moment again, it didn't really matter that I was deaf.

Recently I have been wondering about playing my flute again. Wondering about finding a second-hand double bass to try. Wondering if I should let music back into my life a bit more. And I think I'm going to. First step, Suite Antique by John Rutter for my flute – it's not difficult, but it's beautiful and a lot of it is in my frequency. It was also the music I played at London Aunt and Uncle's wedding when I was 17.

I will never be a concert violinist though... but that's OK. I've got to do some pretty amazing things instead. And should I ever get hearing aids that give me back higher frequencies in the correct pitch? Look out world, DG the violinist will be back.

Deaf Girly: 5 things I wish I'd known about work at 23

I got my first dream job aged 23 in London. It had never occurred to me that I would struggle to find work because of my deafness, but in all honesty I think back then I added a hefty dose of denial to just how deaf I was. But if I could go back and give my 23-year-old self some advice, what would it be?

1. Be fearless
Back then, I was scared of many, many things. Living alone in London. Leaving the safe confines of my university world. Getting the tube. Meeting new people. Making phone calls. Getting things wrong at work. Mishearing people. It was exhausting. If I could have sat 23-year-old DG down, I would have told her to just say yes to things, be bold in her actions and put the energy she used for worrying into having fun.

2. Be clear
Many of the early issues I had in my career were due to my apologetic nature about my disability. I hid it. I pretended I could do things I couldn't, which resulted in hiding in cupboards crying while trying to make phone calls before my amazing line manager hid in the cupboard with me and made the calls. I wonder if I'd just been more upfront, less emotional and less defensive, if I might have had more early career success. So DG, please please be honest about your deafness. Practice telling people in the mirror until the words and phrases trip off your tongue. Smile and be positive about your deafness – don't make it a negative thing.

3. Sleep more
I swear half the reason I was so emotional in my first job was because I was so exhausted. All the time. Being deaf is tiring. It's like spending your whole time surrounded by people talking a foreign language but expecting you to understand. Concentrating and trying to follow what's going on is the most energy sapping thing. So DG – sleep after work, then go out or go to the gym. Shut-eye makes everything better.

4. Yes you can
I was given some brilliant advice at the start of my career about how to break into the very competitive world I work in. And it worked. But was it my dream path? Not really. And I think that at some point, I should have thrown myself down the path I was truly passionate about and who knows where I might have ended up. So DG – yes, take the job that's better suited to your deafness but then network like a mad person and go after your dream. DO IT!

5. Be more than deaf
I think I let my deafness consume me in my twenties. It defined my life and my decisions. It defined my work persona and my behaviour. And my deafness is not me. It's a part of me. I let the negative aspects of my disability win for so long. Until the day I created Deaf Girly actually. If I look back to that first blog, it's like a switch flicked and I started to puzzle out how to be deaf, how to live the life I wanted. So dear 23-year-old me, it's not easy but soon you will meet Deaf Girly. She'll allow you to find your feet, take a breather, educate others and make your voice heard. She's brave, fearless, stroppy and I love her. And she will love you, too.

Happy Deaf Awareness Week peeps

Love DG
xx

Deaf Girly: 10 things I love about my deafness

Ok, so this week is Deaf Awareness Week and my Twitter is filled with fabulous infosnacks about deafness and advice and wotnot. It's brilliant.

If there's one thing being deaf and the experiences that come with that have taught me, it's that no one size fits all with deafness. It's personal. And no one can tell you how you should be feeling or hearing.

So with that in mind, here's 10 things I personally love about my own deafness, so you can see the world from my deaf perspective…

1. The quiet 

This has not always been the case for me, but these days I really do like the quiet that my deafness gives me. I used to be terrified of it and had panicky moments when taking out my hearing aids and realising everything had gone, but now I am used to it and sometimes, when I am on deadline in the busy office I work in, there's nothing better than taking out my hearing aids and relishing in the nothingness.

2. The mishearing/pronunciation comedy

This is a tricky one as there's a fine line between the hilarity of mishearing something and the crushing embarrassment. If I'm honest, more often than not it's the latter, such as the time I was at Tintagel and went somewhere I wasn't meant to as it had just been closed but didn't hear the yells of the person working there. I was quite tempted to ask the cliffs to throw me out to sea that day. 

But just sometimes, a wonderful nugget of humour is created from the uniqueness of my deafness and we fall about laughing – the other day this was when I ordered a Chicken Ceylon curry and Biryani at my local Indian restaurant and got the pronunciation so wrong that FJM snorted beer out of his nose. As punishment I made him phonetically go through the whole menu with me over our main course. I am now expert at Indian restaurant pronunciation.

3. The deliberate ignore

As a kid, this was one of my favourites. Being asked to empty the dishwasher would suddenly see me disappear, if a teacher called my name at school and I knew it wasn't going to be to give me a merit mark, I'd hot foot it in the other direction, and all with the back-up excuse that I hadn't heard. Nowadays this is particularly useful with chuggers, random nutters in the street and political canvassers.

4. The privileges

Again a bit of a tricky one but I do feel genuinely lucky about some of the things I get as a result of my deafness and I don't just mean my amazing Phonak Nathos NHS hearing aids. From travel perks to concessionary entry to lots of places, such as museums and theatres – with plays and musicals captioned by the brilliant Stagetext. However, the flip side of this is that I only get this concession because the services aren't always accessible. And while stalls tickets – at non-stalls prices – at the theatre for things with captions are amazing, you are fixed to the one date that the captions are happening. The best perk? Pre-boarding on aeroplanes... especially when there's a fight for overhead bin space.

5. The people

Without my deafness, I never would have set up my blog DeafinitelyGirly.com and become @DeafGirly. I kind of met myself through having a hearing loss and blogging about it. It's been an amazing journey. What's more, without my blog, I wouldn't have met all the wonderful people on Twitter, via Hearing Dogs and in person randomly while out and about. It's amazing to be part of this wider community of charities, Hearing Dog owners, other deaf and HOH people not just in the UK but from all over the world. And a special mention also goes to Hearing Loss Hour – a monthly Twitter event that I would highly recommend you getting involved in. My blog also inspired the book I wrote, which is currently still a work in progress as I'm quite busy at the moment, but hopefully one day might be on a bookshelf near you.

6. The technology

I am a massive tech geek and I LOVE discovering new tech that can help make life easier for me as a deaf person. From the FitBit Blaze with its vibrating alarms and notifications to just discovering which streaming services now offer live subtitles, I love trying things out, asking for more and providing feedback to companies. When I think back to the early days of iPlayer and the even earlier days of page888 and Caption Readers, it's hard to believe how much more accessible it is now. If only SkyGo could follow the BBC's lead in this…

7. The dogs

OK, so I know hearing people can get involved with the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and see all the amazing work that it does, but as a deaf person, I have felt the excitement of seeing how a dog could change my life and that excitement is up there with how you used to feel the night before your birthday when you were 5 and knew that you were going to get the Lego you'd asked for. Seeing first-hand the recipients of Hearing Dogs and listening to what life is like now has been such an incredible thing for me, so incredible that I well up just thinking about it... and the dogs – the dogs are just so gorgeous. Want to meet them yourself? Head out to one of the Hearing Dogs Great British Dog Walks and you'll find many to say hello to.

8. The determination

This is a weird, very personal, one but I honestly think that I am more determined than I would have been if I wasn't deaf. When I look back at what I was like before I knew I was deaf, and further back to what I was like when my deafness wasn't as bad as it is now, I took so much more for granted than I do now. Being deaf for me is like an extra rocket booster of determination to succeed in as much as possible and do fun and brilliant things and I love that.

9. The memory

One of the things I have, which I wonder if its because of my deafness, is an excellent general memory and also a photographic memory. I commit situations, places, rooms and people to memory in the strangest way – perhaps to help me with recall of conversations as I rarely take them in and remember them... lipreading and concentrating on what's being said often stops retention of information – for me anyway. The other thing I have is an audio memory. I remember things I used to be able to hear and I can transpose music up an octave in my head so I know what it's meant to sound like even if my ears can't tell me that. It's brilliant. I like it.

10. Being Deaf Girly

I mentioned her earlier and I'm going to mention her again. Becoming Deaf Girly quite possibly saved me. She helped me find my feet in the scary world of work, she helped me find the words to explain my deafness to others, and to process the challenges and exhaustion I encounter as a deaf person. But most importantly she helped me look on the bright side about my deafness, and see the good things about it. And if, 20 years ago, you'd told my 16-year-old self that this would be the case, I would have denied it, got stroppy and put my hearing aids back in my pencil case.

Happy #DeafAwarenessWeek peeps

DG

xx

Deaf Girly and the London Underground

Yesterday evening, I got to watch the third episode of Inside the Tube: Going Underground presented by Rob Bell – and his Rab jacket – on Demand 5 after subtitles were finally added! And it did not disappoint. In fact, it's a must for anyone with a love of our amazing underground network.

I've had a fascination with the London Underground since I was a little girl when I used to come up to London from the Wild West erm... Country to watch things at the theatre or visit a wonderful Bulgarian friend of my father who lived in a quirky flat in Earls Court.

My dad, who grew up just outside of London, used to tell me all sorts of interesting facts about the trains and stations as we were travelling from A to B and to this day our fact-sharing chats haven't changed except now, he also buys me books... all of the books about the Underground and London and maps. My favourite one is the Chambers London Gazetteer, which lists all the areas of London and how they developed. 

But close second comes anything on the disused stations of the Tube, which is one of the reasons why I loved this TV series so much – Rob got to visit so many unseen places that the public can't get to.

So you'd think as a Tube fanatic that I'd spend all my time travelling by tube and marvelling at the wonder of the trains and stations and journeys you get to take.

But no!

I hardly ever get the Tube. I travel by bus. Admittedly a new Routemaster bus, which I'm more than happy to geek out over too, but crikey it's a slow way to get around London in rush hour.

But why, if the Tube could be my specialist subject on Mastermind, am I so afraid of traveling on it?

And I think I've worked it out. 

When I was 15, I got a two-week summer work experience placement at Reuters in central London. I was super excited but that summer was also the one where my hearing nose-dived and I lost so much clarity of speech I had to be statemented by the council and given a notetaker to get through my A-levels. 

Traveling on the Central Line every day to Reuters' Gray's Inn Road offices was one of my favourite things – even in rush hour. I don't ever remember feeling afraid. In fact, I used to fold myself into the shape of the curved door to squeeze into the train leaving Notting Hill Gate and often remained like that for my entire journey under Oxford Street until I arrived at Chancery Lane.

From memory, for most of that entire fortnight, I loved travelling on the Tube. I felt safe on it, getting me where I needed to go without having to brave the busy London streets, which quite frankly terrified the country mouse in me.

I'd read my book and pretend to be a proper commuter, not a teenage work experience student on her way to type up reports for the energy desk at a massive news agency.

But I can remember the first time I felt frightened and it was at the end of that fortnight. I was heading to meet London Aunt in Covent Garden and had the route mapped out in my head – I could have totally walked by the way – but as my train neared Covent Garden, it sailed on through without stopping. 

Unbeknown to me, the driver had made an announcement about Covent Garden being closed and the train headed on to Piccadilly Circus. I asked a man next to me – his armpit at my eye level – what had just happened but I couldn't hear his reply and 15-year-old me was less happy about declaring her deafness to random strangers. And so, I got off at Piccadilly Circus and my fear of being stuck on a tube train being unable to hear was cemented.

Over the years, deafness has made me frightened of lots of things, which I am gradually trying to overcome and many things that I have already overcome, such as ordering drinks in bars... I went on complete strike doing this as I really cannot hear bar staff but now I just wing it, or tell them I'm deaf. 

But flying for example, is not something I enjoy because whenever the crew make announcements I immediately fear the worst. But I am combatting that by making sure I ask the crew to tell me what's going on, and so far, most have done so.

Dark places. Yep – frightened of them, too. It's like someone's removed my last remaining useful sense... and come to think of it, the underground is essentially dark, especially if you're on a broken down train in a tunnel – my absolute worst fear.

So yes, I'm a big scaredy cat about some things. But that doesn't mean to say I haven't tried to use the Tube since I was 15... 

When I moved to London at 23 for my first job, I got the horrific Wimbledon branch of the District Line daily until being stuck outside Earls Court waiting for a platform in carriages so cramped you didn't need to hold onto anything to remain upright, reignited my phobia and I became amazingly well acquainted with the capital's bus network, which come to think of it could also be my specialist subject on Mastermind. 

I would still persevere occasionally with mixed success. I was once stuck in a tunnel on a Northern Line train for 20 minutes with a bunch of Greek girls who didn't speak English, but phonetically spoke all the announcements to me so that I knew what was going on and then I tried to act out what the driver was saying so they understood - all while my heart threatened to stop beating with sheer panic.

And after that occasion, I think it was several years before I stepped onto an Underground train again.

But after watching the final episode of Rob's documentary last night, I felt less afraid than I have done in a long time about travelling on the Tube. While I might not be able to hear what is going on, I now feel more reassured that there are hundreds of people monitoring, managing and maintaining the Tube to ensure that passengers get to their destinations without incident. 

Of course, there's always going to be unexpected events where the driver will make announcements I can't hear and turn me into a claustrophobic panicking person – don't we all love those people in confined spaces? – but the majority of the time, it'll be OK.

Which is why this morning, instead of turning left and walking to the bus stop, I turned right and walked to the tube. And got on one. And then got off one stop later, – hey, I didn't say it was going to be easy – before getting on the next one and staying on it all the way to my stop. 

Yes, I dashed for a seat and had to ignore the glares of the person I beat, but it was the only way I could ensure I stayed on the Tube. If I am standing, my feet would walk me straight off at the first opportunity.

Will I ever love travelling on the Tube? Probably not no. But will I always love the Tube? Absolutely.

Watch the TV series peeps. It's aces.

DG
xx

Deaf Girly and the Great British Dog Walk

Last weekend, I was invited to take part in the Hearing Dogs Great British Dog Walk at Windsor Great Park and it was brilliant fun.

This annual event helps raise money for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and there are 20 walks around the UK – at time of writing there are still 11 walks you can get involved in too, from Exeter to Aberdeen... (although not literally of course).

I was a bit nervous about turning up without a dog, but I needn't have worried. I soon met up with Nicholas Orpin, the Community Fundraising Manager for the South East for Hearing Dogs and had a good chat with him when he wasn't busily walking around with a clipboard organising people and pooches. There were plenty of dogs to say hello too, and I was thrilled to bump into two Twitter pals of mine and their pooches – Sophie and Rusty the Hearing Dog and Anne and Tegan the Hearing Dog.




The donation for both me and FJM was just £24, which for a fun day out and walk in beautiful parkland and the chance to chat to loads of new people and Hearing Dog recipients was an absolute bargain. But what's even better is that for that small donation, you get to see first hand where your money is going. It's going on providing these amazing animals for people who need them. It's going on changing people's lives.

As you know, I am in the Hearing Dog application process at the moment and the knowledge that I will hopefully one day have a dog of my own, is completely grin inducing. But it was also a fantastic opportunity for FJM to meet his very first Hearing Dogs and chat to other recipients and their partners about what it's like to get a Hearing Dog.

Rather excitingly, Rachel Riley from Countdown was also there... spot my stealth shot of her above! I actually got to meet her briefly and chat to her a bit about how much I love the charity she also supports, which was brilliant. She was lovely.

There are two walks coming up this weekend in Suffolk and Glasgow and more the week after in Cheshire, Kent and Cambridgeshire. Check out the full list here and then grab your dog – or borrow one, or simply go without one – and head out to the countryside for a Great British Dog Walk.

It's the most fun day out. I promise.

DG
xx

Why Deaf Girly doesn't carry cash

Back in February, I took part in a two-day induction at Hearing Dogs – there's a big blog coming soon about that – as part of my application process. It was amazing and I met so many wonderful people and had so many lightbulb moments about my deafness while talking to them.

One of the loveliest people I met – Tracy – took me, and an adorable Hearing Dog, to a garden centre to see what it's like to be out and about with a dog. We had a cup of tea in the coffee shop. Tracy went to pay and joked about putting everything on card before she had her hearing dog as she could never hear how much something was so didn't want to hand over the wrong cash. Now she has a hearing dog, she says that cashiers are more aware so say the price more clearly enabling her to feel more confident about paying in cash.

And it was as if everything suddenly fell in to place...

I never carry cash. I never pay by cash. If I have a £10 note in my wallet, it will languish there for days as I pay for everything on card.

FJM jokes that I am like the Queen. But jokes aside, it's frustrating when you need change for a parking meter, a corner shop or the dry cleaners.

I stopped carrying cash around the minute I got my first Switch card at 17 years old. But I never really thought about the reason the reason why.

At university, and even now, I would always pay for drinks in pub with my card as I could never hear the barman say how much the drinks were... but again, I never really thought, 'Oh that's the reason why I do this.'

Shopping is challenging enough with all the questions I already struggle to hear such as:

'Have you got a loyalty card?'
'Would you like a bag'
'Would you like one of these products here that I've been told I have to sell today'

without the added stress of struggling to hear how much something is. Sure there's often a visible till screen to have a look at but not always... and even if there is, looking at that distracts you from the barrage of questions shop assistants continue to fire at you after all the usual ones.

I spend most of my time guessing what people in shops are saying – it usually works. You say no to most questions because they're usually just marketing things. On occasions though, this plan doesn't work – like the time I said no three times to a woman in TopShop who it turned out was asking me to enter my PIN. I thought she was going to brain me with my shopping bag.

Let's take a moment to now celebrate the marvel of contactless payment, which now reduces the chance of that happening again.

When I get my hearing dog, I wonder if like Tracy, I will find paying with cash less intimidating and stressful? Or if I will continue to remain defiantly cashless even when I'm paying for a 50p chocolate bar.

I have a feeling, it'll be the latter.

Happy Tuesday peeps!

DG
x

Deaf Girly and the Fitbit Blaze

I'm a bit of a tech geek - always have been, which was quite exciting in the 1980s and 90s when technology was moving at a fair old pace.

I remember the first time I got a caption reader to add subtitles to videos, my mind was blown. When mobile phones came out, I got a really early one – a brick-like Panasonic with a capacity for 10 text messages and a massive keypad. I loved it. All of a sudden I could text people – although I had no one to text as I was the only one with a mobile phone.

I embraced the netbook trend with gusto and got Pinktop – my dinky little laptop that came everywhere with me especially during my Superdrug beauty blogging days. When wireless dongles came out, I got one so I could work anywhere, anytime – where there was a 3G connection of course.

I impulse bought an iPad mini on the day it came out (thankfully near payday from what I can remember), which I still use all the time nearly five years' later... and when wearable tech arrived, I embraced the Jawbone Up – a steps and sleep tracker with a nifty app... and continued to do so for four years until last week the band (number 7 in four years – most of which had been replaced for free by Jawbone) completely disintegrated and so it seems, after a spot of googling, the company has disintegrated, too.

And so, I did a spot of research and bought a FitBit Blaze - with a pink strap of course - in the sale at Tesco Direct, using my ClubCard points and nervously tried it out.


Would it be as good as the Jawbone Up? Would the step counter work? Would I like the watch model rather than just a simple band? Would I miss my pink Casio watch, which I got from Argos with my Nectar points? (I'm a bit of a loyalty card geek incase you hadn't noticed)





And after three days I can confirm that I LOVE my Fitbit Blaze!

Yes it does all the usual steps and sleep tracking and yes that's great. But I'm more interested on what other things it can do for me and how it can help my deaf life.

And here's how:

The alarm clock

The first time FJM was present for my vibrating alarm clock going off under my pillow I thought he was never going to come back down off the ceiling. Sonic Boom alarm clocks, while very efficient at waking me up, are also very efficient at scaring the crap out of your boyfriend, and after two months of hoping he'd get used to it, I ditched the alarm clock.

But the Jawbone UP vibrating alarm wasn't powerful enough to wake me up. The band would sometimes fall off my wrist and there was no way I was relying on that. So I resorted to setting my iPhone alarm and hoping the noise of it rattling against the bedside table woke me. Usually it didn't. It woke FJM, who then woke me, which wasn't fun for him when I get up two hours earlier than he needs to.

Hopefully one day a hearing dog will be there to wake me up *waits excitedly* but in the meantime, I've been trying out the FitBit Blaze vibrating alarm and it is awesome! Totally awesome. Alarms are easy to set. You can set multiple alarms. Different times for different days and when it goes off, there's even a snooze option.

Job done!

The workouts

So, I'm a bit fan of the workout video. Sometimes I just don't want to exercise in public and since I discovered that you could rent them from the library in my teens, I've sweated it out with the best of them, from Cindy Crawford to Rosemary Conley. But the lack of subtitles frustrate me. It's hard to know exactly what's going on and get your technique right. iTunes does have some subtitled exercise workouts and they're good, but then I discovered Fitstar, Fitbit's exercise app.

Built into the Blaze are three workouts you can do. You hit play; the watch vibrates and the screen shows you the exercise while counting down how long you have to do it for. It's fun. But the Fitstar app goes one better. With short videos and workouts you can follow on your phone. And guess what? There's an option to switch on captions... amazing eh?

And all the workouts get logged on your Fitbit, which excitedly tells you you're fabulous and have hit targets and "Wooo, that's a lot of green!"

The notifications

There's one more thing that makes the Fitbit Blaze ace in my deaf opinion and that's the on-screen notification option. That means text messages, Whatsapp messages, and compatible apps can send buzzy notifications to your Blaze when it's within a room-sized distance of your phone.

This has been brilliant for when my phone is in my bag and I can't feel it vibrate. Or when it's under a pile of papers on my desk. Or when I'm cooking and it's by the sofa.

Basically it does the job a sound notification would do otherwise.

*Beams*


I can't help but feel incredibly lucky that I was born at a time when technology was developing quickly. And that I am now an deaf adult in a world where texts and emails have largely replaced phone calls and allow me to communicate incredibly efficiently where I might otherwise have felt incredibly isolated.


Things aren't completely there yet – there are still woeful gabs on the accessibility front:

•    Consistent, regular, multiple options of subtitled cinema 

•    My GP surgery... no phone-less emergency appointment option

•    Woeful live subtitles

•    Woeful subtitles on previously live programmes

•    Woeful subtitles on some catch-up apps

•    NO SUBTITLES ON SKY GO! *scowls

However, modern technology has given me a sense of independence that in the early 2000s I did wonder if I would ever have. It's enabled me to sort gas bills over Twitter, book appointments with the tax man, and wake up at 6.15am without FJM having to wake up to.

This morning he got to sleep soundly until 6.30am exactly, when instead of waking him with my alarm on my phone, I woke him up by putting something on our induction hob and causing it to beep frantically... Oops!

But I'm confident that one day there'll be an app for that beep... and FJM will get his full sleep quota.

Happy Wednesday peeps

DG 

xx