Saleem: profoundly deaf user
Published 25 October 2017
漏 Crown copyright 2017
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I바카라 사이트檓 fluent in British Sign Language, but people don바카라 사이트檛 realise it바카라 사이트檚 different from English and things can be difficult for me to understand.
Saleem is 22 years old and lives with his family in Blackburn. He바카라 사이트檚 profoundly deaf and is fluent in British Sign Language (BSL).
He바카라 사이트檚 currently unemployed, and plans to get some more training at college to help him find a job. He started a catering course last year but the interpreter they provided wasn바카라 사이트檛 fully qualified and didn바카라 사이트檛 have much experience. Saleem got behind and gave up.
He isn바카라 사이트檛 very confident about learning new things. He struggles with English because of the differences with BSL in grammar and vocabulary.
Devices and technology
Saleem has an Android tablet, and loves being able to sign to his friends on video chat. He바카라 사이트檚 sharing his family바카라 사이트檚 laptop until he can afford his own.
He also has an iPhone 5 that his brother gave him. He바카라 사이트檚 tried using it for video chat but it바카라 사이트檚 harder to see what people are saying as the screen바카라 사이트檚 quite small.
Goals and wishes
Saleem wants more people to know British Sign Language (BSL). His brother signs well and his parents know a bit, but they바카라 사이트檙e the only ones in his family who do.
He바카라 사이트檇 like captions (subtitles) to make sense - sometimes they바카라 사이트檙e rubbish and you don바카라 사이트檛 know what they mean.
Frustrations
When content doesn바카라 사이트檛 work well for him
It바카라 사이트檚 annoying for Saleem when captions just say things like 바카라 사이트榤usic playing바카라 사이트� and don바카라 사이트檛 have the song words. It바카라 사이트檚 also better when they have different colours to show who바카라 사이트檚 speaking.
If there are no captions, transcripts are ok instead - but Saleem finds it difficult to read large blocks of text.
Because his English isn바카라 사이트檛 great, if something isn바카라 사이트檛 easy to understand, he needs it in BSL. He also needs search engines to correct his spelling.
When there바카라 사이트檚 no alternative for deaf people
Saleem hates it when his mum has to make phone calls for him. He can바카라 사이트檛 use a phone and his minicom broke, so he has to be able to contact people by email, chat or text.
He can바카라 사이트檛 use intercoms - he has to say 바카라 사이트淚바카라 사이트檓 deaf, I can바카라 사이트檛 hear you바카라 사이트�, and he usually just follows someone else through the door.
Saleem usually has to enter his mobile number when he바카라 사이트檚 filling in a form, but there바카라 사이트檚 no space for him to say he prefers to get text messages to calls.
Making things better for Saleem
| What to do | Further reading |
|---|---|
| Let people choose a way of contacting you that suits them best - and offer a BSL sign relay service for those who need it. | DWP services more accessible thanks to new British Sign Language pilot, press release on 바카라 사이트. |
| Provide communication support like BSL interpreters if you offer face-to-face appointments. Always ask people what works best for them. | Information on like interpreters. |
| Write in plain English and break up content with things like headings and lists. Use the 바카라 사이트榠nverted pyramid바카라 사이트� approach with the most important information at the top. | Structuring your content, guidance on 바카라 사이트. |
| Make sure video content has captions, and that the captions have been checked for clarity and accuracy. Have transcripts for audio content. Think about having a sign language version for people whose reading ability is limited. | , article by The Paciello Group. |
More reading
You may find the following resources useful:
- 바카라 사이트楧esigning for users who are deaf and hard of hearing바카라 사이트� is one of a set of posters designed by the Home Office. You can
Statistics about hearing loss
11 million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing.
There are 151,000 BSL users in the UK.
Deaf people are more likely to:
- have poor mental health - up to 50%, compared to 25% for the general population
- be unemployed - 65% of working age deaf people are in employment, compared to 79% of the general population