Smethwick deaf woman who moved from Latvia says UK is 'quite behind'

A deaf woman who moved to the UK to study said the country was well behind her native Latvia for people with hearing problems. Beate Grinspone was born deaf but said she never felt like an outsider in her home country.

Every cinema had automatic subtitles, interpreters were always available and Latvian people were more than happy to find alternative ways to speak to a deaf person, she said. But after moving to the UK she said she experienced discrimination and little effort from others to support her.

The 28-year-old, who has lived in the UK for eight years, said she still felt the country had a long way to go in being more deaf inclusive.

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Through a BSL (British Sign Language) interpreter, Beate, from Smethwick, said: "I didn't feel disabled in Latvia. I was born deaf but my family are all hearing so I am the only deaf person.

"I was always left out of everything because I could not voice my opinion, so I just followed. I was sent to an oral school and I was taught to speak, sign and lip read.

"Latvia is a small country and they had interpreters, if you go to court or a theatre they have connections to deaf organisation who make it accessible. All films have subtitles and on a court date they provide an interpreter immediately.

"You (UK) are regarded as quite advanced but you are quite behind. There is a massive fear in England of being sued, health and safety breaches and fear of us."

Birmingham has numerous BSL screenings of movies, theatre shows and concert performances. By 2025 BSL will be available as a GCSE, where students will be taught at least 750 signs and how to communicate them in daily life.

Despite these changes, Beate still feels the UK is lagging behind countries like Latvia. She said: "I did volleyball in Latvia and they'd nod to me, write something down and point and gesture. I was so into sport.

"In the UK I emailed volleyball clubs and got no reply or was told 'no, health and safety'. It's rare here to have cinemas with subtitles and BSL so deaf people flock to that one screening."

Beate did praise British universities for their accessibility. And she revealed the consequences of lack of support for deaf people including low confidence, isolation, loneliness, low mental health, self-harm and suicide.

And she said deaf people avoided visiting their GP as it was difficult to book an interpreter, leading to poor health and even low life expectancy rates. Deaf health charity SignHealth said deaf people also required separate mental health services.

Beate now works as a Wellbeing Lead at disability charity Sense in Birmingham, breaking down barriers for deaf and disabled people. She said: "When I came here I was perceived as cold as it's common in Latvia to not show emotions.

"I started experiencing these barriers and experienced emotion for the first time, I felt very angry thinking 'just put an interpreter there' I felt lonely, furious and frustrated.

"We are also treated like we are stupid, that phrase 'deaf and dumb' is still there. Two years ago things were improving where Birmingham City Council were setting up so many projects.

"We set up deaf yoga, coffee mornings, information sessions and cycling. Now they are bankrupt and it's all starting to close so once again people are left sitting at home.

"They teach other languages in schools but not BSL, 2025 is another delay. If people learnt to sign at school then 251,000 BSL users would not have trouble communicating with anyone because everyone would be able to sign."

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