Story from East Fife Times

Lochgelly man in line to become learner of the year

Bill Jones, who is learning British Sign Language at Lochgelly High School, has come out on top in a regional heat of the Signature Annual Awards scheme and now progresses to the final in London on November 12th.

Judges at Signature were impressed by Bill's commitment to his studies and his involvement with his local deaf community, specifically with Hearing Concern LINK with whom Bill volunteers.

Bill will now be invited to attend the glittering London awards ceremony where he will be up against 10 other candidates from across the UK to be crowned Signature's Learner of the Year 2010.

Bill studies the Signature Level 1 Award in British Sign Language at Lochgelly High School.

Suddenly becoming deaf approximately seven years ago while in his mid-40s, Bill struggled to cope with the impact upon him, his job and his family life and it was by receiving support from organisations like The LINK Centre for Deafened People (now Hearing Concern LINK) that he managed to turn things around.

Bill has volunteered with Hearing Concern LINK since 2006, undertaking various roles. In 2009, at a Hearing Concern LINK residential programme, he was amazed when he observed a deafened man of staff using British Sign Language. Unable to sign, he relied on notepads and some lipreading to communicate with gentleman. At the end of the course, Bill decided to learn British Sign Language and he immediately enrolled on a course.

Despite his own hearing and balance difficulties and a change of job, Bill has managed to attend classes and pass each module to date. He is currently awaiting the result of the final assessment.

Bill is benefiting from having an additional mode of communication and has made a great commitment to learning so that he can improve communication with the deaf people he meets. He has also encouraged his son to learn alongside him.

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