Personalities within the Association

We have interviewed a few of the 'personalities' within ALS, asking each of them the same questions, some lighthearted and others more serious. We will put up these interviews from time to time and hope you enjoy getting to know a few more people 'behind the scenes' at the Association of Lipspeakers.

Ross Trotter will be well known to many people visiting this site, but others will not perhaps realise the extent of his work with, and for, lipspeakers over many years. Apart from being Chair of the CACDP Lipspeaking Qualifications Committee and their senior lipspeaking examiner, Ross has supported lipspeakers and the formation of the Association from it's first planning stage. Apart from being a regular user of Level 3 Lipspeakers in the workplace, he has always been available for comment and suggestions, as well as editing of materials and presentations; involvement in, and negotiations for, the making of the joint CACDP and University of Bristol video, Introducing Lipspeaking, where lipspeakers were seen on film in the workplace, for the very first time; responsible for providing the first ALS Information table at a national organisation's Conference and AGM; always including lipspeakers and their role in every public - and private - speech, paper or presentation he makes on deaf issues and so on.....the list is endless.

So we are very pleased that he has taken time out from his hectic schedule to be interviewed for our website.

Q. What time do you usually wake in the morning?

Ross: My alarm clock has a vibrating pad under the pillow which is normally set for 7.30am. But as I often have to catch a train from York to London for a meeting I also have two Shake-Awake portable vibrating alarms, often set for times such as 5.30am. Mind you, they are not always needed - since the cat is quite likely to demand her morning feed when she thinks it is time for it.

Q. Pick five words that best describe you.

Ross: Organised, tolerant, optimistic, loyal, demanding (though others might only agree with the last of those).

Q. If you could have a one-to-one with anyone (living or dead) who would you choose?

Ross: I find this very difficult to answer, as there are so many interesting people, past and present, that it is invidious to choose just one. I think it has to be my mother, as she was so clear sighted and definite in her views that I greatly miss being able to talk things through with her.

Q. Who, or what, has changed your life for you?

Ross: Again, there are so many possible answers. Obviously, getting meningitis at the age of 15 that left me profoundly deaf changed my life completely. Concentrating on "what" first I would pick two things - subtitled television and Typetalk. The first gives me access to television that was previously denied, while the second allows communication with hearing people over the telephone which has revolutionised what I am capable of doing independently. Using lipspeakers for meetings obviously runs these two close, but does not have quite the same continuous and daily impact on how I live and communicate. Looking at the "who" side of it relates mostly to my library career, as several people have had a direct influence in enabling me to succeed. The lecturer at my library school in Belfast, Peter Lewis, got me my first job with the British National Bibliography (where I remained for 32 years, though it became part of the British Library during that period). My boss at the British National Bibliography, Joel Downing, got me involved with the Dewey Classification which has been my life's work, and became a good personal friend as well. Lots of people in the world of deafness have influenced me, but again I would not wish to single one out.

Q. Now that you are retired what activities do you find most enjoyable?

Ross: I am lucky that retirement has been an extension of my working life, except that now I can choose what I do - and whether I do it or not! But the actual activities in which I am involved have not really changed much since retirement. I'm still closely involved with the Dewey Classification, for instance (I am Chairman of the Library Association Dewey Committee), and do some consultancy work. I now have more time for deaf activities and wear a number of "hats" - probably too many. On the lipspeaking front I chair the Lipspeaking Qualifications Committee of CACDP as well as acting as an examiner as well as a user. My chief interest has always been in telecommunications for deaf people, and I am Secretary of the Telecommunications Action Group and a member of OFTEL's Disabled and Elderly Committee, among others. I chaired the Typetalk Consumer Panel for many years and still have strong links with that service. As far as leisure activities are concerned I enjoy reading (all those train journeys to London come in useful there!), travel, good food and particularly wine. I am fortunate to live in Yorkshire which has a large number of pubs and restaurants serving good food.

Q. What are the most frustrating aspects of communication for you?

Ross: Undoubtedly this is the ability to participate in group conversations easily and spontaneously, especially if the others are all hearing. Even if they are all deaf aware it is so easy to forget to include me when the conversation gets warmed up. The next would be the ability to listen to music - a cochlear implant might help that, but would it be music as I remember it? I would give a lot to hear some Bach organ fugues again. What is interesting is that if I had been asked the same question twenty years ago my answer would have been very different - I would then have put the inability to follow and participate in meetings or to use the telephone above everything else. Lipspeakers and Speech to Text Reporters have resolved the first of these, and Typetalk has resolved the second. But I still miss the ease of conversation a hearing person has - being able to do something else such as read or watch TV at the same time, for instance.

Q. What would be your Desert Island Discs luxury?

Ross: Thank goodness for a question that is easy to answer! No problem here - an inexhaustible supply of nicely chilled Sancerre! I am assuming the island waters themselves would provide the seafood to go with it.

Q. What would you most like to see ALS achieve?

Ross: I would like to see ALS ensure that lipspeakers have the same recognition, professional image and structure that ASLI has ensured for sign language interpreters. Lipspeaking has moved a long way in the last fifteen years from being almost a leisure activity by a few well-meaning souls to being a properly trained and professional workforce. But there are still a few inappropriately trained and unprofessional cowboys (and cowgirls!) who bring disrepute to lipspeaking and give new users a false impression of its benefits, and I would like to see ALS having greater power to name and shame these people, as well as being an organisation that everyone working in the field wants to belong to.

Thank you Ross, for such a full and wide ranging discussion!

Ross Trotter was interviewed by Lynne Dubin, July 2001.