Maisie’s blog: My popstar experience with KIDZ BOP

Hi, I’m Maisie and I am 13 years old. I have hearing loss in both ears and wear a hearing aid in my left ear. My main form of communication is through speech but over the past 9 months I have started to learn BSL.

I first started wearing my aid when I was 8 years old and I was the only child in my school to have one! This got me thinking about what other children would know about hearing aids. That is when I decided to really own my hearing loss and teach not only the children but also the teachers about why I needed an aid and how it was going to help me!

So, this was now my mission, and I made a presentation to share with the school. Everyone was so impressed, especially my Teacher of the Deaf! I now love accessorising my aid with charms to match my outfit or my mood.

Outside of school my main hobby is Irish dancing which is where my sign name comes from (you will have to watch some of the KIDZ BOP content with Jazzy to find out more!). I have just returned from competing at the World Championships for Irish Dancing, it was AMAZING!

So, how did I start working with KIDZ BOP? When I saw the advert to audition for KIDZ BOP, I jumped on it immediately. I thought it was a great chance to let people know about different disabilities and that deafness is something to celebrate, not hide!

KIDZ BOP has enabled me to use this as a platform to show that learning BSL is important for all levels of hearing loss, not just people with severe or profound deafness ,and should become part of our conversations so that ALL children are included. And so my journey to filming with the KIDZ BOP Kids began.

I was a little excited and nervous about my first session to start the work on interpreting the songs. This soon changed when I met Daryl, a deaf consultant from Performance Interpreting. He was an amazing help with my journey and he was just so kind and patient with me in our video calls as it wasn’t just about learning the BSL but how to make this a performance. Daryl was such a big help and made learning about performing the song so enjoyable. He also gave me lots of time to make sure was my signing was correct.

Then the day arrived when we had face to face rehearsals and it was fantastic, not only to work with Daryl but Kelly, a freelance interpreter. This is where we worked side by side with Shaun, the choreographer, to create this wonderful piece of signing for KIDZ BOP.

Filming in London was a great experience and the first day that I arrived on set, everyone from KIDZ BOP were so welcoming and friendly! It felt like a dream, and I immediately felt part of the team from the moment I walked into the dressing room. The day started with hair and makeup. It was my dream come true to have professional makeup artists working with me. I loved what they did, because it was so natural and beautiful. As I walked on set, I got cheers from the crew, and they were so supportive for my first time in front of a camera! The help from Daryl and Kelly paid off as some of the songs I recorded in one take (not bad for a beginner!).

Day 2 was all about meeting the KIDZ BOP Kids and filming some content with Jazzy (who gave me my sign name) and Luke from Deaf Identity who made the unique and stylish T-shirts for me and the KIDZ BOP Kids. The content filmed with Jazzy was so much fun and teaching her some of the moves from the songs was brilliant.

Working with KIDZ BOP on this project has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was just brilliant to be able to star in the BSL series that promotes how accessibility is so important for young people with all levels of hearing loss. Now, both hearing and deaf people can access KIDZ BOP songs. I hope that I get more opportunities for performance interpreting in the future.

My favourite song to sign (hoping it was yours too!) was 'Stay'. It was such a beautiful and elegant song to sign to and the movement of the signs flowed.

I really hope you all enjoyed the BSL series and found this inspiring to learn sign language, thank you for all the support.

Maisie

Check out Maisie's videos, as well as lots of behind the scenes fun with her and Jazzy, on the KIDZ BOP YouTube channel!