“I have a dream that one day deaf people will receive the access they need and have equality with hearing people.”

Rebekah Afari – TEDx Exeter 2018

Rebekah Afari

I’m deaf, but we can still talk

How can we break down the barriers that hold deaf people back? In a powerful talk signed in British Sign Language and voiced over by Omoyele Thomas, Rebekah Afari shares her experience of growing up deaf in a world created for hearing people and calls on us all to tear down the barriers to inclusion together and make her dream of equal opportunities for deaf and hearing people a reality.

Rebekah Afari was born profoundly deaf and comes from a hearing family. Her first language is British Sign Language. Rebekah is passionate about deaf issues, having faced many challenges herself, and hopes to increase awareness of the barriers deaf people face, aspiring for equality in a hearing world.

During her early teens, she was a member of the youth advisory board of the National Deaf Children’s Society. She is currently seeking employment, having recently completed a BTEC level 3 media course in Exeter, where she was the only deaf student on her course. Rebekah enjoys a variety of sports, cooking, reading novels and filmmaking.

Biography published 2018

Watch our other 2018 speakers

Vicki Culpin

A wake up call: this talk should send you to sleep!

Dawn Faizey Webster

Fighting back one blink at a time: living with Locked-In Syndrome

Glass Parachutes

Performances

TEDxExeter 2018