Team

Anna Herriman

Anna is profoundly deaf from birth and is bi-lingual in English and BSL. Anna is training to become a qualified BSL Translator. This came about from doing lots of BSL translation for worship songs and some videos for her church through the lockdowns. She found doing BSL translation very rewarding and open things up more for the Deaf Community. Anna is a qualified BSL tutor and teach Signature levels 1, 2 and 3. Anna first taught BSL in Winchester in 2000.

In her free time, Anna is a Methodist Local Preacher and leads a church service once a month. She also lead services for the Deaf Community. She has recently taken part in a musical at her church in Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and translated the songs into BSL.

Anna has always believed in improving access for the Deaf Community through her teaching and now expanding on this through becoming a BSL translator.

Signly is an excellent resource providing BSL users a wider and improved access to websites and I am excited to be part of the team doing this

Amy Beckett

Registered Sign Language Translator

I want to be a translator and Deaf interpreter to support the Deaf community to access everything, to break down all barriers that link to English or communication. I want to see that every Deaf individual to be able to access anything, anytime and able to make their lives easier, without any barriers.

I think Signly is a very good opportunity for Deaf people to able to access websites as Signly aim to translate everything on the websites, so as much as possible, everywhere is BSL friendly. I hope to see that Signly growing more and maybe to do more than just websites.

If there is a better access, like BSL accessibility, visual accessibility etc; the future is more likely to be looking good and hopefully from there, BSL will have a better recognition around in the UK. Which hopefully means better education for Deaf children and equal opportunities (jobs, etc) as hearing people.

Ayesha Gavin

Registered Sign Language Translator

Ayesha is a Deaf translator currently working towards RSLT status. Ayesha enjoys working with Signly to ensure equal access to information on the internet for the Deaf community, as she knows how difficult things can be without clear accessible information.

She has been working with Signly for just over one year and really appreciates the opportunity and support from the rest of the team.

Daryl Jackson

Deaf Interpreter

Matt Kirby

Registered Sign Language Translator

I am known as a deaf actor for my roles in the Four Deaf Yorkshiremen series, Deaf Funny, and other films in BSL Zone.

I am currently studying to become a translator and interpreter.

It is my goal to provide deaf people with access to BSL/English communication links.

It is my goal to provide easy access for the deaf community without establishing any barriers.

To be able to present BSL-translated websites to people who are deaf is a very good opportunity for me.

In my opinion, Signly is a good tool for creating BSL-friendly websites.

Oliver Hawley

Trainee Sign Language Interpreter

Oliver is a relatively new translator in the field and is in the process of completing the his qualifications to attain RSLI/T status. Having been with the Signly team for just under a year, he has totally enjoyed the experience of being mentored and learning alongside his colleagues.

‘I really appreciate the content and production activities we are asked to do for our Signly partners.’

Oliver’s particular interests are Business and World News.

Oliver feels inspired every day with his work here at Signly as we endeavour to provide open access to information on the internet to the Deaf Community. Particularly, during this time of considerable change and opportunities that the recognition of the BSL Act has brought.

Radha Starr

Registered Sign Language Translator

Rachael Parker

Registered Sign Language Translator

Rachael has worked and gained a wealth of experience in teaching BSL and Deaf Awareness for over 25 years and has been very passionate in providing as much service and support to and for the deaf community, directly and indirectly.

She has accumulated an impressive CV of qualifications and experience in not just teaching, or tutoring, but also as an assessor, sight translator, an Internal Verifier and an External Verifier.

In November 2010, Rachael was awarded Signature’s Regional Teacher of the Year Award for South-East of England, 2010.

Rupal Chandi

Trainee Sign Language Translator

Russell Cooke

Registered Sign Language Translator

Tim Scannell

Signly Ambassador

I was born profoundly deaf due to my Mother contracting German Measles whilst pregnant.

Throughout my education, I was not taught sign language, in fact, you were punished if school staff caught you using it.

At 14 I had saved up enough pocket money to pay to attend a deaf camp California.

At 16, I attended Derby College for Deaf People. Lots of the deaf students knew and used BSL, leading me to learn it and even go on to complete BSL qualifications.

Having acquired a new language, opportunities arose for me both academically and socially.

In my work I spend a lot of time researching the latest gadgets and gismos, taking a special interest in technology that can improve deaf people’s lives by aiding communication.

English is a second language to me and to many other BSL users. It poses a huge barrier in terms of accessing written information. Signly is an exciting App that can solve that problem. The App’s ability to change written language into sign language is welcomed by the deaf community and has the potential to resolve many communication barriers if companies get on board and offer it as a service.

Now, I am working for Signly Ambassador and I hope you can meet me in one day!

Alexandre Malhão

Signly Senior Software Developer

Alex joined Signly in spring 2019. He's a technical wizard, coding the Signly platform.

Mark Applin

Mark and Deafax conceptualised and launched Signly.