Specialists in British Sign Language (BSL) Deaf culture and the Deaf community
The people of the North East are famed for their hospitality and warm welcome to visitors and we extend this to you wherever you are visiting our website from!
Becoming Visible is a forward-thinking Deaf organisation with its heart firmly in the d/Deaf, British Sign Language community. The people who power us and our work are you, whether you are visiting us, working with us or using our services.
The people who use/ provide our specialist, bespoke, high quality and value for money services are from all walks of life whether they are from within the community, professional workers themselves, learners of our language & culture or simply interested in British Sign Language & Deaf Culture. We hope this website gives you a glimpse of what we do and please do get in touch if we don’t currently offer what you want and we can signpost you to our trusted partners.
We provide Personal Assistants/ Support Workers and Carers
See what people think of us and our work.
“I embarked on this course without knowing a single sign and have since learnt to discuss my background, work, activities, interests and more. The classes are the highlight of my week, and Mondays have become, controversially, the day to look forward to!”
Sarah Pham, Level 1 BSL Student
“Debra is a brilliant trainer. She shares her experience as a person living with Deafblindness, with such eloquence and it is this that drove my passion to learn Level 1 – Level 3 Deafblind Communication with her and informs my professional and personal development on a daily basis.”
Deafblind Level 3 Course graduate
“My son loves the youth club. He goes every time because he can be himself and is able to communicate without any frustration with staff and peers who understands him and vice versa. Thank you to the volunteers.”
Mum of a 9 year-old deaf boy
“The actual teaching is incredible. Our tutor Julie makes sure we all understand and follow the lessons and makes learning fun. She records videos for every session covering what has been or will be taught – marks our homework and gently corrects mistakes so that we are as good as we can be.”
Ruth Stokes, BSL Student
“I have been working for Becoming Visible (BV), as a freelance BSL/English interpreter, for over 20 years and have always received a service guaranteed to allow me to work to my full potential. A local business, working within the community they serve and who understand the pressures of the working BSL/English interpreter.”
Sue Lee, BSL/English Interpreter
“Brilliant. Fun. Too short.”
Youth club participant
“Deaf ID was a lifeline for my family. The support provided to my family member by Debra and her team has been outstanding and really understood what we needed from such a service.”
Marshall Family
“Working with Becoming Visible has been a super easy and straight forward process, they provide brilliant BSL interpreters for our theatre shows who always put in the extra effort to make sure all our audience get the best possible experience.”
Becky Morris, Live Theatre
“We have worked with Becoming Visible on our North East Deaf Youth Theatre for the last 2 years. Becoming Visible have supported children and young people to attend creative workshops through their deaf buddy programme, brought in fantastic BSL interpreters and offered us advice and contacts to help develop the project. We’re really grateful for all their support!”
Annie Rigby, Unfolding Theatre
