See Hear - Series 28 - Episode 20

This week's See Hear tackles important issues - whether it's the cancellation of in-vision BSL interpreters during major news stories, or asking if deaf people should use the deaf card to get ahead in life! We also meet a successful crime writer adapting to life with a rare hearing condition. NEWS INTERPRETERS The BBC has its own 24 hour news channel, broadcasting with an in-vision interpreter three times a day. However - when a major news story breaks, they have cancelled the interpreter. Is this for technical reasons or purely stylistic reasons? See Hear decided to investigate. THE DEAF CARD What is the deaf card? It's an entirely fictional construct, but it's used by many deaf people who enjoy obtaining things at discounted rates, getting out of difficult situations, or jumping the occasional queue. But sometimes it can be taken too far - as we see in the case of one man who broke the law. Is the use of the deaf card ultimately giving deaf people a bad name? Should deaf people be proud to be deaf and not have to use their deafness as an excuse to be treated differently? We issued Mark Nelson with his own personal deaf card and sent him out to investigate further. DAVID HEWSON PROFILE Award winning crime writer David Hewson has written over a dozen crime novels, one of which was even made into a feature film starring Mira Sorvino and Olivier Martinez. He was brought back down to earth one day, when he lost all hearing in one ear. His hearing loss was a result of Sudden Sensory Neural Hearing Loss. See Hear met him to find out how it has affected his life and his writing…for the better!