Gabbie Spreads the Word

Year 9 student Gabbie is hearing impaired and her goal is to raise awareness about the Deaf community, to ensure that schools and workplaces can be inclusive for all.

She explained how communication is often the key factor for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and she is keen for hearing students and staff to understand how they can help. 

Gabbie lipreads and the most common thing she struggles with is that the person she is speaking to often forgets to maintain visual contact with her.  It is extremely easy for hearing individuals to turn away unintentionally as they speak but maintaining eye contact can make all the difference. 

Inspired by role models such as Rose Ayling-Ellis who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, Gabbie hopes to help the hearing and non-hearing communities communicate more easily. 

Gabbie is learning to sign and would love others to be able to communicate that way too. British Sign Language (BSL) is a universal language that involves using gestures, facial expression, and body language.  Fingerspelling is a method of spelling words using hand movements. The fingerspelling alphabet is used in sign language to spell out names of people and places for which there is not a sign.

Gabbie shows us how to sign the alphabet…