When I was younger, my Dad dated a woman who was hard of hearing. She was completely deaf on one side and had a hearing aid for the other. She never had any particular problems in life, she did have a really loud laugh. Her speech was slightly different because she couldn’t always hear herself, at least not clearly. What amazed me was that she’d never learned sign language either.

During my A-levels, there was a time where I’d completed my coursework and had some free study periods. I decided to learn sign language. It was something I’d always wanted to do and I’m not sure what prompted me. Throughout the rest of the hour-session, I taught myself the alphabet and was able to recite it with ease.

I love running and back then was part of the school’s cross country team. This meant that I was training at least…