An Interview with Sarla Meisuria

Early Education

Her education began at a school that embraced her Deaf identity. Starting from age two, Sarla attended Ackmar Road School for the Deaf in Fulham. Challenges eventually emerged, however. A teacher expressed concerns about Sarla’s future at Ackmar Road. “The teacher says that Deaf school is not suitable for me,” Sarla says. When she was six, she transferred schools.

Sarla’s new school was a hearing school, and she was not allowed to sign.  “I was forced [into] speech therapy,” Sarla says, and given a hearing aid. “If I had any subjects linked to hearing,” such as English or Maths, she says, “I had to go to a special unit, with a special teacher,” Sarla explains. This continued throughout until the end of her secondary school experience.

Sarla at 18 years old

After secondary school, she continued her education at a hearing college, but the path forward proved difficult there. After one and a half years, the lack of support was too challenging to manage. “At that time, I didn’t have a sign language interpreter,” Sarla says, “so I had a really bad, deep headache. I had to leave.”

Mentoring the Next Generation

Sarla moved to Newham in 1986, and has lived in the borough all 38 years since. In her long career, she has worked in schools across the borough, including Selwyn Primary School, Lister Secondary School, and Newham College. She has mentored young people and taught British Sign Language (BSL) to adult learners. Her tenure at Selwyn Primary School was short, lasting only two years teaching Sign Language Level 1. “Too many teacher politics, it gave me bad energy,” she says with a smile.

Over twenty years, Sarla mentored young people at the Forest Gate Youth Zone, connecting with Deaf children. “Most of my children, the young people, they look up to me as a role model,” she notes.

Challenging Choices

Some of the challenges her mentees face are familiar to her from childhood, while others are new difficulties. Sarla tries to advise where she can, but there are some lines she cannot cross. A key decision many families face is whether their Deaf child should get a cochlear implant.

“Many parents, they don’t understand what it means, cochlear implants,” Sarla says. This can be especially true for parents who cannot read or write fluently in English, as is often the case with Deaf adults who grow up with BSL as their first language.

Sarla at the London Indian Film Festival

Children, too, can struggle to feel included in the decision. She explains, “they don’t have the power, it’s the parent’s power.” Navigating their relationship with the Deaf community after the operation can also become complicated. “When the children get cochlear implants, they think they become hearing,” She says, “they lost their Deaf identities.”

As an educator, Sarla does not advise parents on whether cochlear implants are right for their child. Instead, she encourages them to do their own research, talk to other parents, and listen to children who have made their own decisions.

Advocating for Change

“I used to get involved in Newham Council politics,” Sarla explains. Though she never went to Newham School for the Deaf, she knows many older Deaf people who attended it from social deaf clubs around the borough. When a Deaf school in Newham shut down due to the deteriorating state of the building, Sarla stood up for the students’ rights to a quality education. “I had a big argument,” she says, “why are you giving the Deaf children to a lower education school?” It wasn’t a battle she could win on her own, however. “I didn’t have the power. Hearing power.”

Sarla and her family in the local newspaper

However powerless Sarla may have felt at the time, there’s no doubt that she’s had the power to influence the lives of many children across Newham. Throughout her career as a mentor, an advocate, and an educator, she’s helped Deaf children imagine, and achieve positive and successful futures.