City Lit BSL

04/05/2026

13/04/2026

Our annual Deaf Day event last Saturday went extremely well with a crowds of happy faced deaf attendees.

At 3pm in the afternoon, I gave my popular talk about how the recent discovery of ancient gestures from the British society had influenced BSL for over two centuries, from 1760 to postwar. Thomas Braidwood's deaf pupils in Edinburgh, 1760, acquired the ancient Greek held-up thumb gesture used in the military in favour or accept of surrendering. Postwar I believe that British deaf holidaymakers or adventurers acquired an old Roman ‘O’ gesture influenced from Europe or the north Mediterranean. This handshape is with the tip of the index finger touching the edge of the thumbnail with the other fingers extended in a relaxed position.

In Quintilian’s writing, it was found that this gesture meant the word grateful or approval, and the deaf communities added the other extended fingers later for the BSL signs FLOWER, WATER and TEA. See the pictures of John Bulwer's 1644 gesture for "Approbabit" (He/she/it will approve) and the comparison of the old and new BSL sign for FLOWER.

Peter R. Brown

13/04/2026

It was wonderful seeing parents join in with their children for my City Lit’s Deaf Day BSL storytelling session. We did a popular book called ‘We’re Going on Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury - with my daughter as BSL assistant! It was amazing seeing parents filming my BSL story to help them to share with their children. Some feedback: “amazing, beautiful and inspiring. Asked me to create more BSL stories, where did you get this signing bear? Children loved this bear”. One of the little girls was excited telling her lovely parents who signed that she said one of deaf people with cochlear implant like her. It is really important for seeing deaf adults to give deaf children deaf identity! They asked to have more BSL stories sessions!

12/04/2026

Yesterday I was observing Deaf Day at City Lit which was really amazing, especially to see the community of staff, students and volunteers, working hard together to showcase BSL’s rich diversity and community. Arriving at the City Lit campus felt like arriving into a magical world, a bit like Harry Potter arriving at Hogwarts (except of course, unlike witches and wizards, we do not want to be hidden but showcase and share our rich culture and language). Many thanks to all our wonderful students who came along and other interested people, families etc.

11/04/2026

Come and join the art workshop at 2pm to add your character to our deaf day scene!

11/04/2026

My Signing bear is travelling to City Lit today for my BSL storytelling session. I bought from 37 years ago in the bookshop at Gallaudet University for Deaf people in Washington DC in America.

Discover the magic of stories brought to life in British Sign Language! A fun, visual storytelling session perfect for children and families.

There will be a few more available tickets on the day at the box office.

10/04/2026

Only 1 more sleep until Deaf Day! 🥳

Come join us from 10am - 4pm at City Lit!

If you get stuck at all throughout the day, come and grab a volunteer in a black Deaf Day T-shirt.

See you soon! 🎉

31/03/2026

This photo with my BSL Level 4 students—and their amazing end-of-year gift—means so much to me. It captures our space-themed BSL session on NASA astronaut experiments and hearing/balance.

Peter Brown said it’s the best student-gift he’s ever seen, and shared a link about “The Gallaudet Eleven: The Story of NASA’s Deaf Bioastronauts.” 🚀

Feeling so grateful—and I’d happily be a Deaf astronaut heading to the moon with this amazing class and Deaf flag! 🌙

27/03/2026

Deaf Day Tasters, Workshops and Talks 🧏🎉

This year's FREE Deaf Day events are now LIVE on our website: https://www.citylit.ac.uk/deaf-day/programme

If any events are sold out - don't worry! There will be places available to book on the day.

We can't wait to see you there! 🙌

City Lit BSL City Lit Lipreading