Support arts organisations to become accessible

I support arts organisations to become accessible because…

"I’m passionate about making a change for the better for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing visitors. I support museums, galleries and literary festivals to use live subtitles. This involves a lot of negotiation, persuasion and technical problem-solving. 

I initially applied for a different post which wasn’t suitable as it involved answering phones a lot. However an alternative short-term role led to other opportunities such as being a creative consultant for museum projects. 

I’m Deaf and use British Sign Language (BSL). I don’t wear hearing aids because it triggers my vertigo. I have colleagues with basic sign language skills who I can communicate with one-to-one. All new staff receive mandatory deaf awareness training from me. For meetings with new clients I book a BSL interpreter and for phone calls I use a video relay service. 

Back in 2012, I performed at the Paralympics opening ceremony and I’ve been involved in many short films as well as acting on stage."

Deepa Shastri