This has been really positive for me, I wanted to give something back to the deaf community. It made me think about how I communicate with people. Seeing my fellow students improve so much and watching the joy they got from improving was brilliant.
This has been really positive for me, I wanted to give something back to the deaf community. It made me think about how I communicate with people. Seeing my fellow students improve so much and watching the joy they got from improving was brilliant.
Keith
Hughenden Gardens Village
Meet Keith!
Resident Keith discusses his feelings on learning a new skill and bonding with the instructor.
Have you ever had any personal experience with hearing loss or has anyone close to you had any issues with hearing?
No, which is one of the reasons that I put myself forward because I thought I might be different. A lot of students did. They either had hearing loss or they know people within their family and they wanted to learn more about sign language to be able to communicate with them. By putting myself forward, I wanted to come from a different perspective, to show that it was inclusive for anybody.
This has been really positive for me, I wanted to give something back to the deaf community. It made me think about how I communicate with people. If you lose your ability to speak, how else do you communicate?
How have you found being involved in the project?
Seeing my fellow students improve so much and watching the joy they got from improving was brilliant.
So why do you think it’s important that people push themselves to learn something new, especially a skill like BSL?
I think it’s really important for your mental health. This village is ideal because there’s so much going on you can get involved in as much or as little as you like. I would hope that people don’t just shut their doors and lock themselves away because this is an ideal opportunity for them to keep their minds active, and to be part of a community that they may not have been if they lived in a house on their own previously. They’re now coming into a much bigger community and automatically you’re more friendly and it just gives you a happier perspective on life.
I’ve made a whole new group of friends as a result of this project. Since the filming stopped and we’ve been doing our own lessons, we’ve probably had another ten people join us that weren’t in the documentary. We have about 14 now. That’s the good part, the main positive about life here at the village it’s the social interaction. I also think it’s good for people within this retirement village setting to learn new skills to make sure that the brain is constantly ticking over.
Are you continuing to apply your learnings going forward and if so, in what ways?
We do the BSL groups twice a week now which are hour long classes, with a view that those that were involved in the filming continue to go forward to their BSL level 1.
How did you find filming specifically with Rose and Marios?
I was bowled over by their enthusiasm for the project and their enthusiasm for wanting to teach older people about sign language. I mean, it’s no secret that when the idea of this programme was first suggested there were reservations about whether it would work or not, particularly with older people. I think that they were absolutely chuffed, that it did, and I think that they were overcome with emotion that all the students here took to the learning really seriously. We learnt a lot about sign language and were able to demonstrate it as well. I gelled with Marios straight away, maybe it’s because we’ve got a passion for a particular subject. I’m still working, and I coach cricket, so to coach young players you need to have a passion for something, sport in my case. Marios was teaching us about sign language a subject that he was very passionate about, and we were similar characters really.
We all got Christmas cards off Rose. It wasn’t just ‘Merry Christmas, from Rose’, she put a very personal message into everybody’s Christmas card, a different thing pertaining to them that she’d obviously given some real thought.
Did you face any challenges while filming?
It was tricky to sign days of the week or months, or events like Christmas or Halloween, it’s retaining the information that’s hard. You have to keep constantly going back. It’s almost like being back at school.
And what do your friends and family think of you being involved in this experience?
They’re just waiting for the next instalment as to whether I’m invited to go into I’m A Celebrity or to do Strictly Come Dancing. They’re waiting for the next stage of my television journey!
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