This Learn to Sign Week, we’re sharing a reflection from Shell Roca, Head of Caritas Deaf Service, about what led her and others to learn British Sign Language (BSL) and engage with the Deaf community.
‘My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.’
These words by Thomas Merton that really struck a chord with me when I first heard them some 25 years ago. This week is “Learn to Sign Week” and it was around this time 25 years ago that I first started learning BSL.
People have different stories about why they learn to sign, and mine begins in a small town in Iceland, in 2001. I was on holiday with a Christian group, and we were spending the week travelling through beautiful and fascinating places, with time each day for prayer and reflection. One of my most vivid memories is of sitting in a boat off the Westermann Islands, listening to someone play Amazing Grace on their trumpet. It was hauntingly powerful, and became an important moment in my faith journey.
I remember being unhappy in the job I had at the time. I worked with lovely people and earned a decent salary, but I felt uncomfortable in my role; it wasn’t where I was supposed to be… but where was I supposed to be?
At a church service in Iceland, I watched a lady interpret from Icelandic to English and vice-versa, and remember being very impressed watching her switch between the two so smoothly. As someone whose foreign language skills only extend to a failed French O Level (yes, they were O Levels in my day!), I thought, God, I could never do that.
Unexpectedly, my prayer was met with a reply: no, but you can in sign language.
In that moment, I really felt that God was telling me clearly what I should do with my life. So I went home, signed up for my first BSL course, and shortly after resigned from my job. Some years later, I started to volunteer and then work for the Diocese of Westminster — but that first nudge, that opening of the door, came from God speaking to me that day.
Merton’s prayer continues: ‘I believe the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.’
The journey from 25 years ago to today has taken many twists and turns; some of them very unexpected. I would not be where I am today without the help and support of so many Deaf people who taught me and welcomed me into their community. It is always a great privilege to be with them, and I have felt greatly honoured by the times when others assumed I myself was Deaf.
I still thank God for all the Deaf people who have touched my life. I may have started that journey learning BSL 25 years ago, but I am still learning. And just as the Lord opened the door for me in Iceland all those years ago, he continues to lead me every day.
At the Diocese of Westminster, we are blessed with priests who support the Deaf community, and who also have a variety reasons for learning to sign. Canon Shaun Lennard shared with me:
On the HCPT Pilgrimage to Lourdes, I witnessed the incredible reaction of Deaf children when the Bishop, who was the main celebrant, started signing the Eucharistic Prayer for the Deaf. That brought home to me the importance of having some BSL as a priest. I later listened to a Deaf mother of hearing children who spoke about the isolation she felt at the primary school gates when she dropped off her children for school. All the other parents were exchanging news and chatting away, but she was not part of that because none of them signed.
Fr Keith Stoakes’ had a journey of his own, too. He explained:
Back in 1978, I was in my second year of studies for the priesthood at Allen Hall Seminary in Chelsea. As part of those studies, in our first term we had a visiting lecturer who spoke about the church’s response to people with disabilities: Autism, Downs Syndrome, and Blindness, for example.
Our lecturer, whilst excellent, was not accustomed to my habit of listening for the most part ‘with my eyes closed,’ and she judged, quite wrongly, that I was bored. But when Fr. Peter Sharp came to talk about his ministry with the Deaf community, he used sign language; I had to keep my eyes open!
When it came to my pastoral placement for the next two terms, our lecturer placed me with Fr. Peter. The opportunity came up to attend a short BSL course during term-time, but my request was denied. Not long afterwards, I found a note in my pigeon hole about a Catholic Deaf Association conference in Newcastle happening over the Easter Holiday; Fr. Peter had mentioned that he was attending and could provide transport. I approached the Rector about funding the course, which he agreed to. After that conference, I was allowed to attend any other Deaf training events happening during term-time — provided I made up for any missed lectures!
Many years later, I discovered that the initial refusal to let me attend the course came from the visiting lecturer’s comment that signing and working with the Deaf community ‘was a five-minute wonder.’ Well, that wonder that has lasted for 48 years and counting!
Lottie Anning, a Development Worker with Caritas Westminster, is currently learning sign language to support our work with the Deaf community in our diocese. She told me:
The first time I saw sign language being used was on a trip to Lourdes; I watched the interpreters and was mesmerised by the beauty of the language and how it fostered inclusion for Deaf people. I was able to pick up a few signs and communicate with those on the trip. Afterwards, I found a BSL Level 1 course and met more of the community, which combined a joyful activity and personal growth with breaking down communication barriers and understanding deaf culture.
Whatever the reason people have for learning to sign, they never know where that knowledge and experience will lead them. If you have been interested in learning BSL but never got round to it, why not make a commitment to explore your options this Learn to Sign Week? Who knows, someday it might be your story we’re sharing!
Want to learn to sign? Get in touch by emailing shellroca@rcdow.org.uk or sarahmetcalfe@rcdow.org.uk; we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.
