Deaf Awareness Week: Matthew Muir’s story

To celebrate Deaf Awareness Week, taking place from 2 to 8 May 2022, we wanted to shine a light one of our brightest media volunteers… Matthew Muir.

Matthew, 19, joined the media team in 2020 and is currently studying a HND in Practical Journalism at City of Glasgow College.

Matthew has moderate-severe hearing loss in both ears and wears hearing aids but certainly has not let that affect the quality of work that he produces for us at YFS.

Speaking on his journey with YFS, Matthew said:

“I first got involved with YFS two years ago on their media and journalism course during the first lockdown and was awarded an ‘A’ with distinction. It was a really good course and was my first proper insight into journalism and the skills needed to be successful in the industry.

I was then invited to join their media team and I have been involved ever since. YFS was the first time I got any articles published online and it is a platform that I am able to develop and showcase my skills.

“I would say that YFS celebrating Deaf Awareness Week really goes to show that they are an inclusive organisation. YFS also approached me a few months ago with an opportunity to interview Nicole Hogg, who is a deaf footballer for Musselburgh Windsors U18 Girls. Nicole has recently been selected in the England’s Deaf football team’s training camp in Portugal, which I think is a massive achievement and, on behalf of YFS, I would like to extend my congratulations to her.”

On the subject of Deaf Awareness Week, Matthew added:

 “It is massively important! It’s really important that we have this week to help raise awareness and celebrate deafness.

“I still think there is more to be done to ensure that the deaf community are equally valued and represented in society. As much as deaf awareness week is for promoting, championing, and celebrating deaf awareness, it is also about making people aware of the deaf culture.”

Matthew, who also writes for the Clyde FC matchday programme and City Live, admits that there are challenges that come with being deaf, but insists he embraces his deafness as it is part of who he is:

“I can only speak for myself and my own experience, as everyone’s experience is varied, and everyone has different levels of deafness.

“A lot of people think deaf people only use sign language, that’s not true and is an inaccurate assumption to make. I have a moderate-severe hearing loss in both ears and wear hearing aids, but I do not communicate using BSL.

“Some people also think that if you wear hearing-aids it makes you hear, again another false assumption- it only helps you to hear.

“In terms of, the impact of being deaf has, I don’t have the mindset that being deaf impacts me negatively, it’s part of who I am, and I embrace it. Where it can be difficult for me is in conversations. I can misinterpret words and do find it hard when I can’t lipread, which is my main method of communicating. This is why it is great that the requirement on facemasks has been lifted for that very reason.”

We would like to reiterate how important Matthew Muir is to our media team. He is an accomplished writer, presenter, and social media manager.

At the Caledonia Super Cup, our media team were tasked with providing social media coverage for a two-day football festival. Matthew was in charge of the social media management for the entire weekend, and he successfully posted hundreds of images and videos sent in by our volunteers to showcase the amazing event.

Great journalist, great guy, and a great asset to the YFS Media Team. You are a credit to yourself Matthew!

You can learn more about Deaf Awareness Week here