My holiday to Israel – October 2019

In October, I went to Israel for a week with a group of 45 deaf people from across the UK , along with two qualified British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters. 

I was very nervous at first as I hadn’t travelled with a group of deaf people in three years. Some of the people I already knew, but many of them were new to me. Luckily, they turned out to be a very nice group, and it was great to go away with a group of people all fluent in BSL so that I could communicate easily. It was so relaxing to be in the deaf world for one week, and it was a culture shock coming back home at the end of the holiday and being back in the hearing world. 

Arrival

Our first night was spent in Tel Aviv. We arrived in the evening and spent the time meeting and getting to know the people we would be spending the week with. It was a shame as we were all tired from travelling, and we were aware that we had to get up very early the next day for the planned activities.with many interesting places to see. and The beaches in Tel Aviv are beautiful, but we weren't able to see them due to the busy schedule. We wished we could have stayed longer to enjoy them. Every day we had to wake up at 6.00 am and there was a rush to get ready, with little time to enjoy breakfast. This really wasn’t a good match for deaf culture, where people like to take their time and have a more laid-back approach. 

We saw many interesting historical places during the week, such as the Roman amphitheatre, the Wailing Wall, and the places where Jesus was born and crucified. It was great having interpreters with us, as it meant we had access to information about the places, as they were able to interpret everything into British Sign Language for us, and we had the opportunity to ask questions.

Deaf awareness is so important 

Unfortunately, we had the same guide throughout the week, and she was not deaf-aware. She was used to dealing with hearing people and hurrying them along, which, as I already mentioned, does not fit well with deaf culture. She was constantly telling people to hurry and even put her hand on people’s backs, pushing them along. This is a shame, as I have experienced other tour guides before who have been patient with deaf people, and this has made the holiday all the more enjoyable. Even the interpreters clashed with the tour guide because they were not happy with her attitude; the fact that she was rushing the deaf people along too much or that she kept changing her mind about things, which confused the deaf people. 

Sometimes she would just continue talking for far too long, and it became boring. As British Sign Language is visual, it requires a lot of concentration and can become tiring to watch for too long. Also, when our coach broke down on the way to collect us at the end of our trip to the Dead Sea, we were all left waiting for a long time. We wanted to know what was going on, but the tour guide didn’t even reply to the interpreter’s texts. She was very rude. 

When we visited Jerusalem, we met a local deaf man who worked in the café there. We tried to communicate with him, but as he was using the local sign language and we were using British Sign Language, it was very difficult, unfortunately. 

Overall, we all had a great time and saw many interesting places, but I wish the guide had been more deaf-aware, as that would have made it even better for us.

Join me next time when I will talk about deaf events and social occasions.