DEAF IDENTITY LOOKBOOK

September 21, 2020 by Mr Luke Christian

On 27th September 2019 I launched my very own business/brand; DEAF IDENTITY to the world and as we approach the 1 year anniversary and birthday of my brand, I wanted to create something special.

One of the main questions I got asked over the past year was; ‘Why haven’t you modelled for your brand yet?’ and the reason for that is simple. I never wanted it to be about ‘me’. Yes, it’s my brand, yes it’s my message behind everything and yes I am the one in control however, I just didn’t want people to feel as though they were buying into one person. DEAF IDENTITY is a brand, it’s much bigger than just any one person and ultimately, it’s about putting deaf people into the limelight and raising deaf awareness through fashion in a fun, modern and relevant way!

With that being said, I thought now would be a good time to step in front of the camera wearing my own designs and who better to shoot me wearing DEAF IDENTITY than the amazing Sophia Carey! Within this lookbook I have worn every design and colour that I’ve released over the past first year since launching and I’m rather pleased with the results!

I hope you like this lookbook and I want to personally thank everybody for their love and support shown over this past year. I can’t begin to sum it up in words and I wouldn’t want to bore you but genuinely, thank you x

ALPHABET SIGN LANGUAGE

NAVY SWEATER

SIZE ‘L’

WHITE INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

CUSTOM SIGN LANGUAGE

WHITE T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘S’

WITH BLACK INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

DEAF IDENTITY LOGO

SAND SWEATER

SIZE ‘S’

WITH WHITE DEAF IDENTITY TEXT EMBROIDERY THREAD COLOUR

‘WHY DOES AUTOCORRECT ALWAYS CHANGE DEAF TO DEAD? BEHAVE’ DEAF IDENTITY PHRASE

BLACK T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘M’

WITH ORANGE EMBROIDERY THREAD

DEAF IDENTITY HEART LOGO

SKY BLUE SWEATER

SIZE ‘M’

WITH DEAF IDENTITY TEXT IN WHITE EMBROIDERY THREAD AND THE HEART IN BLUE EMBROIDERY THREAD

DEAF IDENTITY PALM TREE LOGO (SUMMER 2020 EXCLUSIVE)

GREY T-SHIRT

SIZE ‘S’

WITH PALM TREE LOGO IN MAGENTA EMBROIDERY THREAD AND DEAF IDENTITY TEXT IN WHITE

CUSTOM SIGN LANGUAGE

RED HOODIE (CHRISTMAS 2019 EXCLUSIVE)

SIZE ‘S’

WITH WHITE INK AND WITH TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

I LOVE YOU HAND SIGN

YELLOW SWEATER (SUMMER 2020 EXCLUSIVE)

SIZE ‘L’

WITH BLACK EMBROIDERY THREAD COLOUR

DEAF IDENTITY PRINTED LOGO

BOTTLE GREEN SWEATER

SIZE ‘M’

WITH WHITE DEAF IDENTITY TEXT

ALPHABET SIGN LANGUAGE

BABY PINK SWEATER

SIZE ‘XXXL’

WITH BLACK INK AND WITH NO TEXT SHOWING NEXT TO BSL LETTER

I LOVE YOU SKETCH

WHITE SWEATER

SIZE ‘S’

BLOSSOM INK WITH NO TEXT SHOWING UNDERNEATH

BBC RADIO 4 INTERVIEW

July 15, 2020 by Mr Luke Christian

I had been approached by BBC Radio 4 earlier today (Wednesday 15th July), to give my opinion on what it’s like for deaf people and the difficulties we face now that face masks are becoming mandatory.

Below is the transcript of my interview, and you can also click here to listen to the interview in full. My segment starts at 24:30 and I would love to know your thoughts on this incredibly important issue? Let’s carry on the conversation over on my Twitter or Instagram.

TRANSCRIPT FOR MY INTERVIEW WITH BBC RADIO 4 REGARDING THE DIFFICULTIES OF FACE MASKS FOR DEAF PEOPLE

“Since people now have to start wearing masks it’s made me feel a lot more anxious about going and about in public, especially into shops because I just don’t know how I’m as deaf person going to be able to understand people.

Because I do rely on lip-reading, and facial expressions/facial movements play a big part in this as well. So if there’s big face masks covering half of people’s faces, then that is something that me personally, and lots of other deaf people, are really going to struggle with.

I recently went into a shop and one of the store assistants was wearing a face mask. So I went to the till and I was just buying like groceries, food shopping or whatever - because they were wearing a face mask I didn’t really understand what they were saying so I was sort of you know, looking a bit confused and a bit puzzled but then I started to notice that the cashier store assistant was getting quite annoyed and irritated by the fact that I kept saying “pardon”, sorry” , “what” , but because it was embarrassing for me – and I wish I hadn’t done this – but I just didn’t really say anything and I just paid for my things and then I just walked away, where really I wish that I would’ve had the confidence to be able to speak up and say ‘you know what, I am deaf, and it’s hard for me to be able to understand what you’re saying because you are wearing a face mask’, but in a public setting it’s just a very difficult situation to be in.

During this pandemic, one hundred percent in my opinion deaf people have been completely forgotten about. When all of the daily briefings were being held on the TV, all across the world there were all these sign language interpreters, however here in the United Kingdom, that was not the case. It was only because there was relentless campaigning from deaf people, deaf organisations, petitions being signed, that the government sort of sat up and realised, ‘oh, oops,' we have forgotten about deaf people, maybe we do need to have a sign language interpreter for the daily briefings?’ But this was months later and I do feel now with the face masks and face coverings as well, why hasn’t the government stepped in and made it a regulation for clear masks to be invented and given out?”

Huge thank you to the team at BBC Radio 4 and Evan Davis for approaching me to give my opinion on this and for accommodating to my needs by allowing me to record my answers via Voicenote so that I didn’t have to struggle via the phone or ‘Zoom’!

DEAF AWARENESS WEEK 2019

May 07, 2019 by Mr Luke Christian

I can’t believe a whole year has passed, and it’s already Deaf Awareness Week 2019! (In fairness, I have tried to raise Deaf Awareness throughout the year since!)

It’s still as important to me now as it was a year ago to try and show that being deaf doesn’t necessarily mean you have to act in a certain way or be how people expect us to be. I find the word ‘deaf’ so broad with many different connotations and views on the word, that it’s difficult to know where to begin. The biggest misconception I get is,

‘Well you can talk and hear me fine so you can’t be that deaf!’

Okay first of all, WOW THAT’S RUDE. Second of all, there is no right or wrong way of being deaf and if there is, then I clearly missed out on receiving a copy of that book. I don’t want to sound all ‘woe is me’ and as if I’m wallowing in self pity, far from it, but growing up I never felt as though I fitted in either the hearing world, or the deaf world.

Deaf enough to not be a part of the hearing world. Not deaf enough to be a part of the deaf world.

I think that’s changed now though (or so I’d like to think) and believe it or not, social media has helped. Massively. Yes, social media has a lot to answer for in terms of ruining peoples self esteem by constant comparison to others, but it also has many positives which luckily for me, hugely outweigh the negatives! Since becoming a Phonak #hEARo Ambassador, I have spoken with so many deaf people around the world who can relate to feeling as though they don’t fit in in either world which ironically has created a little world in itself!

Despite getting into blogging for Male Grooming and Lifestyle, I now feel that it is important to use my platform that I have built up to carry on raising awareness for the deaf community and I hope you will follow me on this journey.

Remember, always make sure you are facing a deaf person, and make an effort to move your mouth in a more expressive way, without going too OTT, as you could look incredibly patronising leaving a deaf person feeling embarrassed, and as though it is drawing attention onto them!

Be sure to follow my social media channels this week as I am currently doing a ‘Sign of the day’ in which I am encouraging you to guess what BSL Sign I will be signing!

Instagram // Twitter