Alexandra Shaw, our special guest speaker this morning, was diagnosed as profoundly deaf at the age of three. She was born into a hearing family, as are 90% of deaf people globally. Throughout her childhood, she faced continuous challenges as her parents fought to enable her to learn Australian sign language at school. Alexandra had to move school several times, notwithstanding, she achieved a place to study Law and Journalism at university for five years, after which, she decided that these vocations were not for her – so she decided to qualify as a teacher instead. After an intensive, condensed one year course, Alexandra became a teacher, before moving to Melbourne, and then to London where she has lived for 11 years and never looked back.

Alexandra is half British, but Aussie through and through when it comes to sport! She now works as a British Sign Language interpreter and English translator across a variety of media and organisations. She loves the fact that no two days are the same, and she hopes to break in to live interpreting for TV next year. She also loves Abba, to the point where her sister stole the CD after having to listen on repeat to the same song so much, and she loves musicals, but is frustrated by the paucity of accessible shows.

This morning’s assembly taught us that being deaf, or differently abled, does not have to be a barrier to success in life. With the right support in place, you can achieve anything you put your mind to. Moreover, being deaf should not just be seen as a problem that needs to be fixed through medicine – the deaf community is a rich and diverse one. We need to embrace difference and put better support systems in place to enable those who are deaf or hard of hearing to learn sign language and live full lives.