The Essay: My Deaf World

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The Essay: My Deaf World: The Deaf Club

The Deaf Club

My Deaf World

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Robert Adam's personal take on what it is like to be part of Britain's deaf community

The Australian-born deaf academic Robert Adam takes us on a journey through his early childhood, whilst also considering how his voice might sound if he could hear and speak.

A five-part series of essays that explores what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain. Each essayist has their own personal experience and take on what being part of the deaf community means to them. Some share the little-known divisions and politics of the deaf community and others share what makes the community so special and unique to the point where some deaf people consider themselves as a linguistic minority rather than disabled. 

Australian-born academic Robert Adam takes us on a nostalgic journey through his early childhood and shares what it was like growing up in a family with deaf parents and siblings. He explores the dichotomy of writing an essay for a medium that he’s never had access to - radio. Within this exploration, Robert also considers what his voice might sound like if he could hear and speak. Robert takes us on a trip down memory lane as he shares his childhood memories of realising that not everyone in the world were deaf, the mystery of how telephones work and his fond memories of the ‘Deaf Club’ that was the centre of the deaf community. He ends the essay on the thought that when people think of being deaf as an isolating disability, they are not taking into account the rich, diverse and rounded cultural life that Robert and other members of the deaf community experience.

My Deaf World is produced by Camilla Arnold and Sophie Allen with Mark Rickards as Executive Producer. It is a Flashing Lights Media production for BBC Radio 3.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Five personal takes on what it is like to be part of the deaf community in Britain today.

Five essays exploring what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain. Each essayist has their own personal take on what being part of the deaf community means to them.

A five-part series of essays that explores what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain. Each essayist has their own personal experience and take on what being part of the deaf community means to them. Some share the little-known divisions and politics of the deaf community and others share what makes the community so special and unique to the point where some deaf people consider themselves as a linguistic minority rather than disabled.

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