I WALKED a mile in someone else’s shoes last Thursday. It was difficult.

I had been invited to help the Worcestershire Deaf Rights Group with their PR campaign.

In the room everyone was Deaf apart from me. They are kind people and I count them among my friends. They made me welcome, and adapted their sign language to suit my basic understanding.

But all of that didn’t take away the frustration I had in not being able to communicate properly.

After nearly two years of learning BSL I can have basic conversations and catch the drift of what’s going on. But I was frustrated at my own lack of being able to communicate complex things.

There was so much I wanted to say but couldn’t because I didn’t have the language. So many concepts I wanted to express but failed to do so clearly because I was unable.

I miscommunicated, and wasn’t fully understood.

I think I got a tiny glimpse of what it must be like to be a Deaf person in a hearing world…just a tiny glimpse mind.

So thank God for Deaf Direct who create a bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds for their clients.

Now you will no doubt have read that this service is under threat because of Worcestershire City Council cuts.

They have promised to make provisions for a different service for Deaf people…well we shall see.

But at the moment, for six months, Deaf people will be directed to Citizens Advice Bureau.

County council cuts £45,000 funding

So I ask, how do Deaf clients contact this service?

By telephone? Impossible. By dropping in? Will there be a Deaf Person their all the time or an BSL interpreter? We don’t know.

But don’t worry, the council have done an Equality Impact Assessment, so everything will be alright (if you think I am being cynical, you are right).

The report says, and I quote: “The council is mindful of issues face by Deaf people when seeking information… Deaf people may no longer be able to access advice and information from an organisation which is familiar to them and which offers BSL support to BSL users.”

Sounds oxymoronic to me. You can’t say you are mindful of issues and then say you are withdrawing support from a vital service.

Sounds like the council needs to wear the shoes of the Deaf for a while and walk a mile or two.

(If you are interested in supporting the Deaf community’s campaign to stop these cuts to funding then sign the petition online at change.org/p/worcestershire-deaf-rights-group-need-access-and-support-to-deaf-community-people-in-from-worcestershire-county-council?fbclid=IwAR1OmSIbk7azmNr4AazOCUCt02t9W2pD8dWkUMJEoV5ixEzgMiAV-qfW7Ds)