Tiny Whispers

Personal Blog. Dancer and Writer. I tend to be quite spontaneous. May sometimes be NSFW.

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Opinions: Mental Health Services are more important than caging bridges.

On Sunday I woke to the awful news that once again someone had chosen to end their life. They had done so on the bridge near by where I live. My thoughts go to this person, his family and friends and the poor souls who witnessed it.

In reaction to this news, residents have called for the bridge in question to be caged as an attempt to stop more suicides from being carried out there. And in a way I can see why they want this bridge to be caged. This bridge goes across the Redditch and Bromsgrove highway which is fairly busy in rush hours, by caging this bridge it would end the risk to drivers who travel beneath it.

But it won’t stop the souls who desire to end their agony, it won’t make the grisly reality of suicide go away. From experience I know that anyone who wishes to end their lives will be determined to do so and caging this bridge will only move them to use the next one. It’s a horrible thought but we need to be realistic. Maybe cage the bridge but we need to also invest in other MORE important things. Like investing in mental health services which again I know from experience to be appalling. The Alex hospital has been dragged down to near nothing because selfish and greedy politicians deem it and peoples lives unworthy. The Redditch Borough Council had previously refused investing in a cage for the bridge, and now the calls for one are now louder I have a feeling they would prefer to spend £60,000 for it rather than investing in services people so need.

Just to give you an idea of how poor the mental health service is in Redditch, my Dad had a breakdown and was put on a waiting list of a year to see someone. He never did. And if statistics are anything to go by, men are more likely to commit suicide than women. When my Dad was at his worst, I was terrified we were going to lose him to his mind.

Thankfully my Dad had recovered and back at work in a new job. I’m relieved but there’s always that niggling fear at the back of my mind. What if he has another breakdown? How long would the waiting list be now? Would there even be anyone to see him?

So while people and politicians talk about caging bridges as a way to stop suicide. I’m thinking of the real crux of the issue when it comes to the rising levels on suicide in Redditch and indeed the UK.

We need a strong and reliable mental health service that people could turn to unashamedly. One where the waiting listing is a week at most. One that could also educate people on mental health issues and teach men that it’s not unmanly of them to hide their emotions until they explode or take their lives.

Instead of raising our voices for a cage we should be raising our voices for services we so desperately need.

Until then the jobsworth politicians will continue to walk all over us like we’re doormats.

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Review: Life And Deaf

Before I get started with my review I have to say that watching this documentary has got me slightly passionate. I must say that the fact that British Sign Language is not taught at schools let alone made compulsory to the curriculum in the UK has shocked me. Bearing in mind my small knowledge of sign language came from my school when I was ten it was still not enough for me to be fluent. 

If you live in the United Kingdom I highly encourage you to sign this petition, it’s not right that other languages are placed in high priority when the very people who rely on sign language as their communication are left out. Please, please, please sign this petition: Make British Sign Language part of the curriculum. 

Now onto my review:

Life and Deaf immerses us into the world of the Deaf community and shows the audiences what life is like without sound. To emphasize the point there is no narration, no soundtrack and the people who are the focus of the documentary communicate in British Sign Language. For the hearing audience and those who aren’t fluent in BSL there are subtitles.

 Life and Deaf focuses on four members of the St Johns Deaf Club and touches on the many themes from a couple, Tina and Mario Costi, who are expecting a baby and Abigail who is deciding whether or not to have a Cochlear Implant much to her mother’s opposition. And the St John’s DFC who are hoping to win the football tournament.

I found the documentary to be both humorous and moving, mostly because it had made me reflect on my own experiences. Particularly with Abigail when she undergoes the process on whether or not she is suitable for a Cochlear Implant. One thing that had struck me was the slightly fierce opposition by her mother who is concerned that once Abigail has the operation she would cease to use or at least undervalue Sign Language and the Deaf culture which she is raised in to be part of. In the end Abigail goes ahead with the Cochlear Implant.

Tina and Mario who are expecting a child together are wondering whether their child would be deaf or hearing.Tina laments how the midwives would apologize when announcing a baby is deaf as though it were a negative thing. Mario believes that if the baby is a boy he will likely be deaf as that was how it ran in his family. To his astonishment the baby boy was found to be hearing and thus broke the ‘Costi tradition’.

At the end St John’s DFC made it to the final of the tournament but come second place against Fulham DFC. Mario says that the team should be proud of their achievements and that they played like men. 

Life and Deaf has brought awareness to the Deaf community in a simple and beautiful way, by not having a narrator it allowed the cast to tell their own stories through the wonderfully expressive Sign Language. By doing this it has allowed the audience to connect more to the cast and draw focus on the themes that are on the forefront of the Deaf community. I believe that this documentary will help bring more understanding from the hearing world to the Deaf. Rating: 9/10

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Britain must be more deaf aware, says star of BBC documentary

Marios Costi is standing on a table, in front of a trophy cabinet that covers the whole back wall of the large room we’re in. He rolls up his trouser leg in order to show me and our interpreter a tattoo, a black, white and red crest, his beloved football team's badge. Most of his fellow players on St John’s DFC have one too. The north London-based team has been going since 1913 and their record is one that any Premiership club would be proud of – hence the need for a decent-sized place to put the silverware.

‘Britain must be more deaf aware.’

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Shout out to all my fellow procrastinators out there!

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When you send an ugly snapchat of yourself to the wrong person…

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Because I’m bored

Ask me anything

GO

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Why a Cochlear Implant isn’t a be all and end all.

‘You should have it done.’ said my Aunt.

It.

She’s referring to the Cochlear Implant if the title of this post wasn’t clue enough. 

Ever since my hearing had deteriorated to the point I’ve lost the ability to hear high pitched sounds I have been inundated with pleas and orders by relatives to have a Cochlear Implant.

I understand their concerns however I can’t help but feel that this request is more for their benefit than mine. There seems to be this belief that having a Cochlear Implant would cure me of my deafness. That I never again would I ask someone to repeat themselves over and over again.

While I have been blessed to have some residual hearing to understand most audio cues I am reluctant to have the operation done.

For starters, it’s a big operation that still has risks despite the many medical advancement over the years. The thought of the potential things that could go wrong is unappetizing to say the least.

But that’s not to say I haven’t considered it. I have given some thought to it but I end up with even more questions. Would the sounds be organic or robotic? Would I adapt to it? Would I lose my residual hearing in the process of having it done? What could go wrong? What could go right?

For Deaf people this requires a great deal of inquiry, some choose to have it done, others don’t. Let it be known that this decision should lie entirely on the individual and not on anyone else.

Just don’t tell a hearing person that. Ask anyone who isn’t HOH/d/Deaf and they will tell you hands down that they would have the operation done right away. To them losing the ability to hear or having it diminished is the worst thing imaginable. We get it, to lose ones hearing after being able to do so for most of your life can be devastating.

But to tell a person who is d/Deaf  that they should have the operation done is just offensive. Sure it might benefit you, but does it benefit them more? Having a Cochlear Implant is entirely an individual choice. It may or may not suit them and going through an operation might be all for nought.

Just be supportive regardless of mine/their/our choice, that’s all we ask.

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You'll never remember things I'll never forget.

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I’ve graduated from Uni

FUCK YEAH!

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Currently experiencing every Nyctophobe’s nightmare

My nightlight is broke.