Birmingham Dragons Give Thumbs Up for Sign Language!
Birmingham City Council’s own Dragons’ Den awarded funding for
running an introductory course in British Sign Language (BSL). This
is extensively used by the deaf community and people who work in
noisy environments.
It builds on courses already organized by Shakil Ahmed, a Unite
Union Learning Representative (ULR) at Birmingham City Council as a
part of Learning at Work Day run in partnership with Unite.
Shakil said, “I’m delighted at the enthusiasm and commitment of
colleagues for learning sign language. They are now able to welcome
citizens who use sign language and make them feel fully valued.”
Shakil managed to secure £600 from Learning at Work Day funding and
£200 from the Equality and Diversity Team. With support in kind
from NCBI Birmingham (an organization for people with sight loss -
www.ncbi.ie) the cost per person ended up as only £45.
The participants fully enjoyed the experience. Don’t take our
word; here are some of the things that they said -
“I've never encountered so much laughter while learning. I
thoroughly enjoyed learning a new language.” Elaine.
“Thank you again for including Geraldine and myself on the BSL
training.
I was amazed that after such a short time we were actually
conversing, all be it very basically, in a brand new way. I cannot
tell you how frustrated and ignorant I have felt in the past both
personally and professionally when I have not had even the basic
skills to understand or be understood by individuals who have been
hearing impaired. Learning the basics of sign language is really
important to me and as with all things important I stress that I
won’t get it right! I came to this course with more than a little
anxiety. What a surprise! the morning went so quickly, we learned
so much, and in my opinion due to the skills of the tutor, Mike,
and the team spirit displayed by the very diverse group, what fun
we had in doing so. I’m really looking forward to the next session
on Friday. Thanks again” Debby.
“I learned so much on Friday in a relaxed environment where I
felt that everybody was at ease with each other and Michael.”
Cheryl.
“I am really enjoying this. I never thought I would get the
opportunity to learn BSL within my workplace and appreciate the
fact that I am being allowed to do so. The class and Tutor are very
friendly and supportive.” Sue.
The last word belongs to Shakil - “I
never knew learning can be that much fun!” Shakil
