I’m a postgraduate student, studying for a Master’s degree, and hoping to go on to do a doctorate and then to work as a lecturer and researcher. That alone is tough enough, as getting funding for studying and jobs is very competitive. To add to it, though, I’m also deaf.
The university I’m at, as well as my core subject, will remain anonymous. The intention of this blog is to not only give myself somewhere to write about my experiences in anonymity, but also to – hopefully! – encourage other deaf people. If you’re out there, deaf, and studying as an undergrad, postgrad, doctoral student, postdoc, earlycareer, later academic – I don’t care, if you’ve got something to contribute, please let me know! There’s definitely room here for other deaf people to write, and I can easily convert this to a group blog. My focus is naturally the UK but there is also room for people from other countries around the world to comment.
A twitter feed has been established to match this blog, and also a closed facebook group made up of deaf students. If you would like in, please email me to let me know. Apologies, but only for deaf students.
As my life gets busier (I have now decided on both my PhD topic and my MA dissertation topic, which are related – and am starting the reading and research for it all) I have decided that posts on this blog will be restricted to once per week, usually at the weekend. Unless something extraordinary happens which might generate an ‘OMG-This-can’t-wait-Post'(!) I am more active on the facebook group, however. Facebook is always good for distractions!
I should also add that this blog will have a linguistic amnesty. If other people write here, they may well use different words to describe their hearing loss and identity: please respect their choices. For myself; I am pre-lingually deaf, speak well and lipread well. I also use sign language and sign language interpreters: basically, I use anything that will give me a leg up on communication. In terms of identification, however, I don’t see myself as being culturally Deaf. I respect those that choose that identity, but I have never seen myself that way. The reasons are complex so mostly will not be described here.
If you would like to contact me directly please do so at deafstudentuk at gmail dot com. Thanks!
deafstudent.wordpress.com 
Laura
/ 21/04/2015Could you reconsider sharing the field you’re in & looking to research? This is of interest!
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Laura
/ 21/04/2015PS: it can be a general statement ie; arts, science, etc?
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DeafStudent
/ 21/04/2015Hi Laura, I think you’ll understand that I can’t get too specific. I can tell you that it’s a humanities subject, but it isn’t linked in any way to my deafness. It’s not deaf studies or anything like that.
I think it’s important to add too that although my identity will remain a secret to the world at large, in individual communications with people, particularly other deaf students I’m more than happy to be more revealing about who I am and what the focus of my studies is.
Can I ask why it is of interest to you? feel free to email me directly on the address above if you would prefer.
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Laura
/ 23/04/2015Thanks. Just curious, it adds a bit of context to your posts.
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DeafStudent
/ 23/04/2015No problem. Glad to satisfy your curiosity!! x
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