We Use British Sign Language
Probably not a very usual news post, but we thought it was worth sharing that over the last three months we have been using our time productively to improve ourselves. We're pleased to share that we have gained our BSL level 1 qualification, making us able to communicate more effectively with our non-verbal and hard of hearing customers. Check out our little video below introducing ourselves and explaining.
We're not experts, but having gained our Bristish Sign Language level 1, it does enable us to have small conversations that are meaningful.
We found that at least 2 or 3 times a year we have customers that are hard of hearing or deaf. When we come, the child often doesn't engage with us - Why would they? It's a shame, because whent he "bouncy castle man" comes it should be a great thrill and exciting, but we suppose that deaf children are often not included in conversations and most people they come across aren't able to effectively communicate with them.
We've also seen at our own inflatable day sessions in Welling that during the SEN Exclusive sessions many of the children are non-verbal. Sometimes, despite being non-verbal the children are able to sign and it's frustrating for them they are trying to "talk" with us, but we're unable to understand.
For these reasons we decided a good use of our time would be to try and learn BSL to a level where we can at least have a conversation and have a basic conversation.
The difference it has made is huge, we're now able to engage with children and introduce ourselves, ask them if they're excited and where they would like the bouncy castle in their garden. We can ask them to help us and tell them what a good job they've done, we can ask them how old they are and what friends they've got coming over - Questions and interactions we usually take for granted but the children who are hard of hearing never get.
Equally importantly we're able to ask the non-verbal children at our inflatables days if they're ok, if they're having fun or if something hurts and what happened. We don't have to make it a big deal with pen and paper or asking their parents to interpret for us.
We was fortunate enough recently to explain to a parent of an autistic child that their son was actually signing to them - They had no idea! The parents didn't realise that their child was trying to "talk" with them and they left armed with information. It was a pretty special moment for us when we was able to help the child and explain to their family that they was signing! This wouldn't usually happen because a child is diagnosed early if they're deaf and can often write and have other ways of explaining, but this particular child had some acute learing difficulties and wasn't always interested in communicating and often very dispondent, only signing a few words occasionaly, but they was in context and accurate enough to say they wanted to go home - It was a recent development and one that no one picked up on.
BSL is a beautiful language, mixing emotive gestures and context with expression and intuative movements. It's much easier to pick-up than a traditional verbal or written only language and we would encourage anyone with any interest to start learning, it really does make a difference.
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