British Sign Language Cafe opens at South Devon College - everyone welcome

A Devon college is helping to raise awareness of sign language by launching a British Sign Language Café.

The café at South Devon College opens during Deaf Awareness Week and everyone is welcome. (May 6th)

The café has been set up by two new members of staff recruited to support hearing and visually impaired students.

Sasha Miller, Sensory Lead, and Lorraine Blake, Communication Support Worker, have recently joined the College and will be running the café every other Wednesday lunchtime.  

Sasha has a background in supporting both visually and hearing-impaired students and multi-sensory work, and Lorraine has over two decades’ experience working as a deaf inclusion worker within educational settings as well as at the Deaf Academy. 

Lorraine also has a personal connection to the deaf community and an in-depth knowledge of signing as her older sister is profoundly deaf, so she has used sign language throughout her life. She’s passionate about teaching these skills to others, as well as supporting hearing impaired students in mainstream schools. 

The idea for the BSL Cafe came about because they wanted to raise awareness of what sign language is and to remove any stigma surrounding it. Sasha is also learning Level 2 sign language so wanted to get other members of staff and students interested.

She said: “We've got students in the college who either use sign language or who have learned sign language because they want to, and the Cafe is a place for everyone to come together and use their skills to learn, practice and develop.” 

Lorraine is also keen to highlight how members of the deaf community identify themselves – often they don’t recognise themselves as disabled but use an uppercase ‘D’ or lowercase ‘d’ to differentiate their condition and sense of belonging. 

An uppercase ‘D’ Deaf is used to describe people who identify as culturally Deaf and are actively engaged with the Deaf community, and who usually have a shared sign language. 

People who are deaf with a lowercase ‘d’ are usually hard-of-hearing with either hearing aids or cochlear implants – it is seen as more of a medical model as it may have developed at an older age, rather than being present from birth. They interact in the hearing world and can communicate orally.  

Lorraine continued: “Some young people, especially in mainstream education, may not always have found their identity, so it’s helping they establish who they are and where they fit in.” 

The BSL Cafe is open to everyone, regardless of any prior signing knowledge. It’s not purely for those who are hearing impaired – it's a friendly and relaxed space for anyone who has deaf family members, or those who simply want to broaden their knowledge and life skills. 

Alex Howarth, Head of SEND at South Devon College, said: “Inclusion is an essential core value at South Devon College and to raise awareness of BSL, something so fundamental to many people within our community, makes me proud to work at South Devon College.  

“This is the first step in our intention to offer training and BSL qualifications at the College, something that starts with the BSL Café where like-minded and curious people can come together to learn and practice new skills in an informal setting.” 

The BSL Cafe runs every other Wednesday at 12pm in the Danish Cafe in the Vantage Point campus, for those wanting to learn, practice and chat using their BSL skills.