Episode 1 - Guests

Paddy Ladd

Well known throughout the Deaf Community for his research on 'Deafhood' as well as his unconventional hair and sign name, we meet Dr Paddy Ladd.

He tells us all about his work, his long campaigning history and his colourful hippie lifestyle.

Dr Paddy Ladd was born Deaf and went through mainstream education. He finally found his way to the Deaf Community when he was 22 years old and susequently worked with Deaf young people and their families in the West London area. Paddy was shocked at seeing the education and language levels of a lot of young Deaf people being very low, all had been educated through Oralism and so he decided to put on his campaigning hat and become an activist for the Sign Language Community.

He co-founded the National Union of the Deaf (NUD) which was a radical political activist group. The group took on many campaigns and some of their successes included getting a TV programme made in British Sign Language ('Signs of Life') and changing attitudes in Deaf education towards Bilingualism rather than an Oralist approach.

Paddy found himself working in TV and Media with the programme mentioned above and also for the BBC programme 'See Hear' on which he was a Presenter and Researcher. He went on to be involved in the formation of the London Deaf Video Project (LDVP) in 1985 with the aim of encouraging more Deaf people in to Media and to provide access to Government information for Deaf people in BSL through videos.

After this, Paddy found himself wanting to change paths slightly and started to work in the field of research and academia. He has written and researched many theories, including what he is most famous for, his work on Deaf culture. He has worked for the University of Bristol and also Gallaudet University in America and he achieved his PhD in 1999 with his seminal work, "Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood" now a published and well-received book. For more information about this work, you can visit:

www.forestbooks.com/forest/deaf-culture-and-community/understanding-deaf-culture-paperback/1853595454.html

Campaigner, activist, academic, hippy, long-haired Dr Paddy is an icon of the modern day Deaf Community and we're thrilled to have him on Under the Lamp with Julian!