Deaf education, BSL, and the Education (Scotland) Bill

21-04-2025

CEO Blog

Click for BSL Ongoing challenges in deaf education Recently I appeared on the See Hear programme, discussing deaf education and deaf parenting with both deaf and hearing parents. It struck me that even though the deaf community has had the same issues for years, nevertheless they persist. I believe this is due to a lack of recognition of British Sign ...

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Empowering allyship

26-02-2025

CEO Blog

Click for BSL Empowering allyship Towards the end of last year, I had the honour of presenting at the Association of Sign Language Interpeters (ASLI) conference, discussing themes of ‘Reframe, Refresh and Reset’. More recently, an article has been published in their quarterly magazine. You can read the article below, or watch my presentation in BSL via the 'Click for ...

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Revisiting the interpreting landscape in Scotland

16-02-2023

CEO Blog

Click for BSL As a deaf professional, I had worked for more than 25 years across deaf services in England, and had often looked with envy at developments in Scotland. With the BSL Act to recognise my language, and the Scottish Government stating their desire for the country to be the ‘best place for BSL users to live, work, visit ...

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The stigma around cochlear implants

30-09-2021

CEO Blog

blue soundwave
Click for BSL Last week, I shared my story about my cochlear implant, and how my hearing loss journey led me there. You can read/watch that story here. I was taken aback by the response, with so many deaf friends and colleagues reaching out to share their story too. But that wasn’t the response I got back in 2012, and there’s ...

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My deafening silence

21-09-2021

CEO Blog

Cochlear implant on wooden table
Click for BSL - part 1 Recently, there had been much discussion within the deaf community around the film, ‘Sound of Metal’. For anyone unfamiliar, Sound of Metal follows the story of a heavy metal drummer, played by Riz Ahmed, as he comes to terms with his hearing loss. With so much discussion and hype surrounding this topic, I have been reflecting ...

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BSL tutors – To be deaf, or not to be deaf

05-07-2021

CEO Blog

Click for BSL Video The age-old debate about who should teach British Sign Language (BSL) has reared its head again on social media, and remains as divisive as ever. With the increasingly widespread of social media video platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok, there has been criticism over hearing BSL students teaching people as they learn, and rightly so. ...

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Mental health tips

13-05-2021

CEO Blog

Click for BSL Video This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. So, what helps me to keep my mind positive? Walking outside, taking in the scenery and getting some fresh air - whether it's cold or hot, it doesn't matter; the view is lovely. There may be times when I don't feel up to walking and I think to myself; ...

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My Kiltwalk experience as a deaf walker

06-05-2021

CEO Blog

Click for BSL Video I took part in The Kiltwalk in April 2021 to raise money for Deaf Action. As a deaf person, I know how organisations like Deaf Action play an important role in improving deaf people's lives, so to raise vital funds, I challenged myself to walk 26 miles on the Water of Leith in Edinburgh. During my ...

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Technology and “Deaf Gain”

28-06-2020

CEO Blog

Click for BSL video As anyone who has worked with me will attest, I always like to push the envelope when it comes to technology. I like to experiment and see how far it can take me. As a CEO, it seems only natural that I will look for solutions to everyday tasks. Who wants to manually log timesheets when ...

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An Introduction

CEO Blog

Click for BSL video Philip Gerrard, CEO of Deaf Action My background As this blog will be a dedicated space for me to post my opinions and experiences both professionally and personally, I thought I would start by introducing myself so you can get an understanding of who I am and where I am coming from. Firstly, I should start ...

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