The myth of the talons

For nearly a year now I have been supporting a deaf student in a music class. It is a group of adults with learning difficulties who are a joy to work with. There are two teachers who lead the class, and me, interpreting for my student.

To my horror, one day I noticed one of the male teachers was wearing very long fake nails. They were so explicit, so out there, that I couldn't help but stare. What was this 40-something-year old, level headed really nice guy doing wearing fake nails? It was one of those moments where you look around the room to see if anyone else has seen what you have seen. With a group of learning difficulty students - no chance, they rarely pay attention to the little details - but other members of staff did not seem phased by it.

Many wild things ran through my mind. Did he know he was wearing women's fake nails? Perhaps he was gay? Surely not, it didn't have stereotypical manners of a gay man and I'm sure I heard him mention a wife and baby. Maybe was he an ordinary guy in the day, and a cross dresser by night? No no, he seems too normal a family man for such shananigans. These thoughts occupied my mind for many weeks after, when I would support the student again.

A few months later, my student who has little self-awareness and will stare at the man dribbling in the morning or point to a lady with a funny walk and ask (too loudly) why is she walking like that, went up to the teacher and said, "Why are you wearing those nails?" I could not have been more overjoyed with the question, as I had been asking myself this question for so many weeks. "I do it to strum my guitar," he replied. Hurrah! A huge wave of relief crept over me, he's 'normal'. He's normal!

Shame on me, fancy letting my imagination run wild like that.

Follow Your Rainbow

When I was a young girl, back when Beanie Babies were the fad, I was in a shop and found a Beanie Baby with the same name as mine. It was a cute lil rabbit with big floppy ears covered in paint with a multi-coloured ball is its hand. I still have the rabbit at home somewhere, but the message inside is safe in my head, it said: Follow Your Rainbow.

As a deaf person, I had a reasonably 'normal' upbringing. I had two older siblings, in a hearing family, and luckily only lost about 60% of my hearing, as opposed to being totally deaf.

Having not met any other deaf people in my childhood, I continued through life and school with little understanding or support. But that's fine, I'm not bitter about it, my mum pushed me to be as independent as possible, and I have her to thank for my amazing lip-reading skills, something I developed as a coping mechanism.

Anyway, after achieving decent GCSEs and A Levels, I went to university and I was opened up to a world of support and provision. It was fantastic. It was then that I cottoned on to deaf culture - how we like to 'rinse it' - get as much as we can for free.

After university, I got a job on a newspaper in a loud, boisterous environment. It was hard because it was an open planned office, but I persevered and managed to get some good news stories out there.

One night I was at a friend's family party when a stranger came up to me and pulled me to one side. She told me some strange personal information and said I must visit her, she was a 'medium'. Reluctantly I did, because my friend said I should. When I visited the lady she knew I was deaf and told me off for having such a negative attitude towards it. She explained: "It's not a hearing loss you have, it's a gift". She told me to use it, and strike while the iron is hot. I'm not into the hippy, alternative stuff, but I followed her advice and reflecting now, I hate to admit, it all makes sense.

I immediately signed up to a British Sign Language course and have never looked back. When I reached a lull in my journalism career I decided to follow my rainbow. By then, I had BSL Level 2, which meant I could communicate with deaf people to a good standard.

My parents liked me in a journalism career, they didn't want me to change deciding to only see the negatives - that it was a bad move given the current recession. Yet, with defiance, I resigned and began my new career.

It's like I was living under a cloud which has been blown away - the sun now shines. I now walk with a spring in my step, I go to work with a smile on my face and I rush home excited like a little girl with stories to tell. Each day is like no other. I am helping deaf people, out in schools and making a difference to their lives. I am learning so much, about myself and about others, and I didn't believe it was possible to love a job so much.

My daily experiences are interesting, humorous and unpredictable. I have stories to share every evening, so from here on in, I will share them with you all. This blog is to show how defiance led to happiness, follow your rainbow because when you reduce life to black and white you never see rainbows.