Hello, I'm Jazzy! Jazzy.

Now we're both deaf but I grew up hearing and Jazzy

grew up deaf, so today we're going to be talking about the differences between that.

I can't wait

First I just want to explain that Jasmine's being voiced over

because she doesn't use her voice.

But I have some visually impaired

subscribers so I wanted to make sure that they could understand.

That's great!

Sounds great!

My first question for you is at what age did people know that you were deaf?

I was born fully deaf

When I was 10 months old everyone found out I was deaf

It was quite late as back then in the old days that's when you found out

Now you find out straight away

They all learned BSL very quickly, they learned BSL for me.

So I grew up deaf.

How did the doctors just not know?

Yeah right?

back then it was so different from today

How old were you when you started going deaf?

15 was the age I started to lose my hearing

but it wasn't until about 18.

Wow

That was then like 'oh this is a problem'

and I went off to

university and that was the big difference that kind of change in

location and before then I've been really ill

and so just like mainly on my own.

So going off to university and it's like

suddenly just people everywhere and I couldn't understand.

I know the feeling that loss of control it's really hard.

It was kind of weird because when I was like really little

so like three years old,

I couldn't hear then either.

Really? Yeah!

I was born having like problems with my

hearing and it was I think when I was about five years old

I had an operation and I'd had like various operations but that was the one

that changed it.

Wow I didn't know that.

I thought you'd started losing your

hearing straightaway when you were 15 or 16 or...how old did you say you were?

Fifteen.

I thought it started straightaway then I didn't realize you had problems when you

were three. Wow!

My deafness is part of my disabilities

which I've had since birth but

they're very episodic.

How did you cope when you first found out you were deaf?

At first I thought that I was just being

lazy because I sort of sit in school and actually try and try and try to

understand but I just couldn't.

And I sort of like I asked can I sit at

the front of the class and yeah watch watch the teachers

And I was just...

Yes, I always had to sit at the front because I'm deaf, yes.

but also because I had to watch the interpreter

If I sat at the back how would I understand?

So I'd look at the

interpreter but it was hard when the teacher would pace back and forth

between me and the interpreter and I had to say

'please move I want to see the interpreter'

Yes, same!

Oh my God, school, university, everyone...

Yes, it's really really annoying!

I'm like move please

So I taught myself

sign language just to understand it when I was 15 because I sort of realized like

mm something's wrong and it really helped but my school didn't have any

didn't have any sign language.

Wow was your school not deaf aware? Nothing?

No [laughs]

There is like no other deaf person and because I was losing my hearing but I

didn't have a diagnosis and the University were actually really great

Brighton University! Go them.

Do you think being deaf is hard

when you go to school and you're the only one what everyone else is hearing?

Challenging?

Yeah I mean the challenge was that I just I think I didn't have

the words to explain to everyone else how I felt and how isolating it was.

It was the same myself in a mainstream school everyone else was hearing I mean

they had a deaf unit with about 20 to 25 deaf but I still found it challenging

because when I was in the classroom I was all by myself being deaf so it was

hard to cope

The only one?

Well, sometimes I was by myself and sometimes I was with other deaf

students luckily. Sometimes if the level of the Deaf was different like if they

were in the advanced set in English and I was in the lower then we'd be apart

then in the classroom I had to cope with lots like it was hard to make friends

because I had no speech, plus sometimes the teacher wasn't deaf aware so that

made it more difficult.

But luckily I had an interpreter with me and she supported

me I was really lucky.

Did you ever try using your voice or just always just no?

Yes of course I

was using my voice when I was in secondary school some of the time

especially when I have my cochlear implant before that I had hearing aids

but I couldn't hear anything I was fully deaf.

When I had my implant

I could hear lots of noises it was exciting.

I was pretty nervous then a few

years ago my verse at school got worse because I was always signing with my friends.

So then there was no point in using my voice

so my voice has dropped off

so I don't use my voice.

Because you have a lot of deaf friends?

Yes, right.

How did you meet them?

School

Or Deaf club

Deaf events?

Plus when I was first at

school I had hearing friends but deaf ones only a few.

When I left my first school I

went to secondary school I made deaf friends and then I would meet their

friends and their friends and so on.

You know, small world.

One thing that I

really wish I had more of is friends

Maybe you should wear to deaf events like the pub in Brighton?

You can come with me!

I'll be there by your side, for support.

Thank you.

I think it's really hard

when you're an adult so kind of to make friends.

Yes

And then it's harder when you're an adult and you're deaf.

It's like a different experience.

Yes like when you're an adult you already have your life like, you have

a wife, a job you don't have time to make new friends, you have a busy life.

Your work is your life

My work is!

so it's hard to find friends now, I'm the same.

When I have a

busy life I don't have time to meet people but before when I was younger I

was always going out and meeting people.

When I was young. Now I'm a bit old.

[laughs] 20

[everybody laughing] Oh... so old...

Yeah but I feel old now because 20 is what children think of as an adult.

I do agree with you it can be harder to find friends, definitely.

I'm lazy because the people who are in my life are all hearing.

So like same as you my

family are hearing but my wife is hearing,

and I try and like make her sign

That's sweet!

All of my friends are hearing and it's

easier for me because I speak to just I do the speaking and then I try really

hard to lip read and I think I just allow people to like get away with it.

It's different because you grew up in a hearing community and family, you grew up

hearing so you went down that different path.

I grew up deaf I went to a mainstream school but in a deaf unit and I took

that path.

So it's easy for me to take deaf friends because I was fully deaf

using BSL using my voice.

You've grown up hearing, that's why it's different.

What was the hardest thing about growing up deaf?

Oh lots, I've got lots

[everybody laughs]

I think the most difficult is communication when I go out in public

like in a coffee shop or pub

when I want to order a drink or food communication

is always a big problem.

I think how to communicate with them.

So I can take

notes on my phone and show it to them but if I don't have my phone then I can

write it down on paper and show it to them.

It's hard though because all my

life BSL has been my first language but when I go out I have to change it's hard

to explain.

Do people kind of sometimes think that you're rude because they'll

say something and you're just like:

Yes, all the time!

What about you?

I think that the one big problem that comes from having

grown up hearing is that I have my voice.

People have no idea that I can't

understand them so if I ask for something I say 'oh excuse me could I

have this please' and they're just:

Yeah!

I'm like 'sorry no!

I know, I know I know I sound like this but I don't actually understand.

Yeah!

When I was in school I would try to lip read to the teacher if the interpreter hadn't

arrived yet but for example if they were late but then the teacher would turn to

face the whiteboard and back to me in a way again

it was so hard like how can I hear?

How old where you?

I was at school about, 11, 12, 13?

In secondary school.

Is there anything about growing up deaf that you think sort of like makes life

easier now?

Yes definitely, definitely. When I was a young child I found my life

was more challenging because I was learning everything was new.

And now I've

grown up I can look back and you can see I've learnt all of this so I feel it's

much easier now you know? I lived in this world for 20 years.

How about you? Do you

think the life is easier now?

Sometimes I just think that if I'd have grown up deaf I'd be so much better at signing

because I'm like receptive at sign language and I understand a lot but and

then whenever I'm signing I can only do SSE,

so then it's really difficult for me

to try and move between.

And if there's an interpreter is that an event and they

are doing BSL because maybe there's another deaf

person there it's really hard for me to be like:

'Excuse me... hi...'

I don't understand!

Like you feel left out?

Like the group ignores you and you can't join in?

Most people who've grown up hearing and then become deaf, they feel like there

are these two worlds so there's like there's the hearing world and there's

the Deaf world and we're just kind of like,

awkwardly in the middle.

Because I don't

understand enough of the hearing one,

but at the same time in the Deaf one

I know that I'm different so that's that's definitely the most difficult.

Do you think the hearing and the Deaf worlds are different?

Yeah but like the same as is a language.

So if I lived in a country where they spoke two languages

and they spoke Spanish and they spoke French

I spoke English [laughs] and I'd be like:

I understand nothing.

It's hard for me because I don't speak so it's hard to

understand English.

Then different countries like France or

Spain have their language. It's so hard.

Plus in school I never learned because

they had French and Spanish classes but they believed

'why does a deaf girl need that?'

So I was given extra support to polish up my

maths and English skills because they were considered more important than

learning a foreign language.

So I had them taken off my timetable when I was in school.

It's important to understand English first obviously, but have you ever wanted to like