Deaf News: Gerry Hughes becomes first British Deaf person to sail around the world!

From The Limping Chicken: The British Deaf community was celebrating today, when Gerry Hughes, the Deaf sailor, completed his circumnavigation of the world – becoming the first British Deaf person to complete the feat.

Gerry achieved the feat at around 9am this morning when he crossed his outward route. Having achieved his goal, Gerry is now sailing home, with hundreds of Deaf people expected to welcome him back from across the UK, including his wife, Kay and their two daughters.

Gerry has been away for over 8 months now, and is now expected to return to Troon on Wednesday afternoon at 1pm. There will be a live stream online so people can watch his return from home.

Read the full story over at The Limping Chicken

Charlie Swinbourne interviews Ted Evans in the Guardian

Top deaf journalist Charlie Swinbourne interviews top deaf film director Ted Evans in the Guardian Careers section today. The interview reveals how Ted became a film director and explains the steps he took along the way. Check it out here .. 

Charlie and Ted both came to Peterborough recently to talk about their careers, what inspired them and then how they didn't let deafness hold them back. The interview in the Guardian focuses on Ted's journey while demonstrating Charlie's journalistic craft. A perfect example of what the event in September was all about.

PDDCS members meet Ian Rose - Paralympic Judoka

Last week PDDCS members had a lucky, last minute, opportunity to meet and interview Ian Rose, one of Great Britain’s most successful Paralympic Judoka, when he arrived early for a presentational speech.


Ian answered questions about his experiences as a Torchbearer and Opening Ceremony performer for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Ian engaged the young people with his descriptions about how he trained for and won 2 Paralympic, 5 World Championship and 9 European Championship Medals.

The young people learnt about the injury in training which caused Ian to retired as well as the most gruelsome injury he has ever experienced. Ian truely motivated and inspired everyone present. He threw questions to the young people themselves, asking them how they overcome any barriers in school that might arose due to their hearing losses. He even educated the Assistant Headteacher on how people with visual impairments can use smart phones.

His message of the day was very simple:
 'focus on what you can achieve in life and do it to your full potential'.