As a deaf person I was pleased to read Hilary Lagden’s article (Parish Practice, 30 May). However I do query her comment regarding people who are not born deaf: the deafened. She writes: “For them, signing is not an option because they have grown up in a world of sound; they have exchanged information by using sound and they have learned to communicate with family and friends in a world full of sound.”
I can assure her that when lip-reading and any vestige of hearing is no longer available, British Sign Language is an invaluable option. It is a recognised language and perhaps should be taught and learned with the same confidence that one would approach any new language experience. This acquisition of BSL also opens doors into the deaf community for whom this is their first language.
Sr Muriel Rowley, Congregation of the Assumption, Wanstead, London
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