In this personal reflection for International Week of Deaf People, Anna Storm explores why accessible coaching matters to her as a deaf coach, and how “Nothing About Us Without Us” influences the way she works with d/Deaf people.

I was really pleased when RESULT asked me to write something for International Week of Deaf People about d/Deaf coaching. It is something that is very close to my heart because it brings together two important parts of my life: being deaf and being a coach.

This year’s International Week of Deaf People, which runs from 21–27 September, has the theme “Declaring Deaf People’s Human Rights”, with different themes explored throughout the week, including sign language, education, access, Deaf culture and “Nothing About Us Without Us”.

“Nothing About Us Without Us” is something I have been familiar with for a long time through my work with user-led organisations, including Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs), and it is a principle that feels particularly relevant to the coaching work I am now doing with d/Deaf people.

After taking a career break to raise my son, I wanted a new challenge; I wanted to use the skills I already had, develop some new ones and, importantly, find something that gave me the flexibility to still spend plenty of time with my son.

I had experienced coaching myself and had found it really valuable. There is something quite unusual about having a dedicated space where someone is there simply to listen to you and help you think. No one is telling you what you should do - you have time to step back from everything else and think about what you actually want, where you are going and what might need to change.

Before becoming a coach, I spent more than 20 years working alongside Disabled people and organisations, including in supported employment and local government, as well as with user-led organisations. A big part of my work has been about removing the barriers Disabled people face in employment and when accessing services, so I have seen first-hand how much time and energy people can end up spending trying to get the support they need.

For d/Deaf people, there can be some very specific barriers. Sometimes even accessing a basic service means explaining your communication needs before you can even get started. You might need to arrange an interpreter, ask for information in an accessible format, explain again to someone else why you need something, or spend time sorting out problems that should not really have been yours to solve in the first place.

I realised coaching could be another area where d/Deaf people, particularly BSL signers, face barriers, and I wanted to do something about it. That was one of the reasons I decided to train as a coach.

I have BSL Level 6 and can offer coaching directly in BSL. That means that if a Deaf signer wants to have their coaching session in BSL, they can communicate directly with me rather than having to use an interpreter. Accessibility, however, is about more than language - it’s about how it actually feels to be in the room.

Being able to communicate without having to constantly explain yourself can make a difference. So can being with someone who understands that communication, identity and access can often be complicated. My experience of being deaf means I understand some of that context, but I also know that every d/Deaf person’s experience is different.

Many d/Deaf people grow up with other people having a significant say in their lives. Parents, teachers, professionals and wider support networks can make decisions with us, for us, and sometimes without us. Often those people are trying to help, but if you have spent a lot of your life being told what is best for you, it can be surprisingly difficult to work out what you actually want for yourself.

I am seeing some of this in my coaching work with d/Deaf young people; they can be very clear about what their parents want, they know what their teachers think they should do, and they know what other people around them believe would be best for them. But when I ask what they want, the answer is sometimes much less clear.

There can be a frustrating tension here; someone can feel that they have very little choice or control over their life, while at the same time not really knowing what they would choose if the decision was completely theirs.

In a recent session, a young d/Deaf person told me they had “never been validated like this.” We had been talking about their experiences of communicating their access needs and the frustration that can come from repeatedly having to explain what you need. 

In coaching, validation doesn’t mean me telling someone that they are right or agreeing with everything they say. It means listening properly, understanding what they are experiencing and helping them make sense of it for themselves.

One former deaf client described what it was like to experience coaching for the first time:

“It was brilliant to talk to a life coach who was deaf - Anna naturally understood my communication needs, which were tailored to my preferences in English and BSL. More than that, she could recognise that there was sometimes an extra layer holding me back: the barriers that come with being deaf and navigating a hearing work environment.”

That extra layer is something I recognise from my own experience and from my work with d/Deaf people. It does not mean that being deaf is the problem, but that navigating a world which is often not designed with d/Deaf people in mind can bring additional barriers that are not always immediately obvious.

As a coach, I am not there to tell someone what they should do. I have my own experience of being deaf, but I don't know what it is like to be that particular person. I can help them explore what matters to them, but I’m not there to decide what the right decision is for their life.

So, during this International Week of Deaf People, I’ll be thinking more about how “Nothing About Us Without Us” informs my coaching. It means giving people the opportunity to make their own decisions and have more say in what happens next.

Anna Storm is an Associate Coach with RESULT CIC. She is a deaf coach with BSL Level 6 and more than 20 years’ experience working alongside disabled people and organisations.