Hello Everyone!

We are Jola, Marie, Karthic and Raju and are currently students at City Lit. We have been given a challenge by our wonderful English teacher to raise money for BBC - Children in Need.

We are raising money for this charity which exists to change the lives of children and young people across the UK. This includes funding projects that support Deaf children, ensuring that they are safe, happy, secure and have the opportunities they need to reach their potential.

We know the struggles these young people face as we have lived it ourselves. We are Deaf British Sign Language users and face a double language barrier everyday - as do most in the Deaf community.

Sign Language is our first language so within our communities it is easy to communicate. Our distant second language is written English, which has a different grammar, syntax and meaning from BSL. We struggle in situations when a BSL interpreter doesn’t turn up or is not provided. We try our best to communicate by using pen and paper or our mobiles in written English with hearing people in various environments. Unfortunately, It is not always as effective as we would like it to be, jargon especially is difficult to understand, and miscommunication happens.

Deaf children face many barriers but how can we remove them? Well, let's have a look and see what the barriers faced by deaf children are. Many deaf schools in the UK have been closed due to funding cuts which has led to deaf children attending mainstream schools that often do not have specialist teachers for the deaf. Consequently, deaf children struggle because of a lack of understanding by teachers, staff and hearing children in classrooms, which leads to increased isolation. The projects supported by Children in Need positively impact deaf children by teaching hearing children British Sign Language, so that they are able to communicate with the deaf children in their first language, encouraging them to feel like part of the wider community.

We thought why not highlight some of the challenges involved for d/Deaf and hearing audiences when they communicate together? We created a slogan that is “Pudsey Ears to Eyes”. Ears hear everything and this is often taken for granted by hearing people but changing this to 'Eyes', this brings attention to the need to observe around us and what actions can take place instead of hearing voices.

Our Challenge? We will wear Pudsey’s yellow T-shirt while communicating with hearing people without resorting to using ‘pen & paper or mobile’ to help us get our message across. A Buddy will support us in filming and photography during the day to call attention to some of the issues faced within our community.

When? Sunday 14th November 2021

Where? In the local shops, cafes, ticket offices and public transport around London Bridge, London Paddington and Oxford Street just interacting with everyday people.

Would you be interested in supporting deaf children around the UK? If so, please donate to BBC Children in Need via JustGiving:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/pudseyears2eyes

Thank you ever so much for your support and donations for our fundraising. We really appreciate everything you have done.

Cheers!
Jola, Marie, Karthic, Raju