‘I was deaf first then Black – now I tell my story on the stage’

Chris Fonseca grew up believing he was ‘deaf first, and then Black’, and his outlook on life has inspired him to write a stage show about his experiences.

When he was two, Chris contracted meningitis, which led to him losing his hearing.

Life after that became ‘just about being deaf’, but in his teenage years, music and dance entered his life, and he became fully immersed in the performing arts.

Chris, born and raised in South London, told Metro: ‘My cultural understanding of being Black came much later because I was raised to focus on being deaf.

‘Because of this, I suppressed racism and my understanding of it until I started to experience it more as I got older.

‘I started to reidentify myself when I realised that the world viewed me as a Black man first,

‘Everyone’s experiences are different, but I also wanted to show that a deaf and Black person’s experience is much different from that of a Black hearing person.’

He is now inspiring others to tell their stories about hearing loss alongside being a person of colour, all on the stage in the show ‘Follow the Signs’.

Chris wrote the show in lockdown along with Harry Jardine, a fellow choreographer, dancer and rapper.

The pair met in 2019, when they were performing together in a touring production of The Wind in the Willows.

Performed in BSL, rap, and spoken English along with movement,Follow the Signs brings together all types of audience communication and opens up the worlds of those who are watching their own experiences for the first time.

And the reception to their performances has been quite simply ‘overwhelming’.

Audience members came up to them, saying ‘they had felt seen for the first time’.

‘I felt really exposed because I was sharing my story. It is easy as a performer to just play a part – but this time I was playing myself.’

Co-creator Harry was unable to use sign language when they first met more than five years ago.

But the pair’s ‘almost telepathic connection’ made it easy for him to learn.

Harry said: ‘I feel like I was a BSL user in a past life. We have this weird connection, and weirdly we were both born in the same hospital, in the same year, and I also contracted meningitis around the same time Chris did.’

Parents were also able to fully realise the experiences of their deaf children for the first time, and were finally inspired to learn sign language.

‘One family came in with their deaf daughter, and the mum told me afterwards, “Throughout that performance I felt so guilty never bothering to learn – that changes now”.’

Parents not learning sign language is more common than not. If a baby is born deaf, doctors fit them with cochlear implants and only advise on treatment.

‘But what if the battery of the cochlear implant dies? It is so important for family members to be able to communicate with their children through sign language,’ Chris said.

Follow the Signs has been nominated for Scope’s Media Moment award for telling his experiences and opening up a new world of understanding for others.

Five years on, the pair and ready and raring for their next project, which will depart from Follow the Signs, but will also feature deafness.

Chris and Harry said: ‘We are just overwhelmed with being nominated, and even being in the same category as Strictly Come Dancing.

‘It is just amazing.’

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