Stereotype of guy like me is deaf & dumb, lacking intelligence. That’s what I’m aiming to break down
SAYS DEAFLYMPIC ACE STEVEN CAFFERTY
In golf, he found his refuge. Somewhere the silence became a blessing, not a curse.
Now Steven Cafferty is looking to make as much noise as he can on behalf of the UK’s deaf population. Thissummer the 27-year-old will take the prodigious skills of a handicap rapidly approaching scratch to the Deaflympics, the second oldest multi-sport event in the world behind the Olympics itself. But he’ ll be doing it without the safety net of officialfunding. Without any government support from the £350million pot they’ve invested between the Olympics and Paralympics, all he’s had is his own tenacity in raising the money needed to get to Turkey to compete and a sense of purpose as well as injustice. A lifetime of internalising his frustration at the hand he was dealt as a baby is now finding a voice as a n advocate for the 900,000 UK sufferers of the same plight he endures. And he’s determined to make the most of the position his gift for the game has put him in. Cafferty sa id: “I’ve been accepting challenges all my life. When I was 18 months old I got viral meningitis and was in a coma for four days and in hospital for two weeks. “Luckily all I lost was my hearing – although my mum always said I lost my common sense along with it! “I was profoundly deaf though. I still take tests every year and I’ve pretty much lost hearing in my left ear and don’t wear a hearing aid any more. But I have one in my r ig ht ea r t h a t lets me h e a r pret t y wel l. “If I didn’t have it in? I’d hear banging maybe, feel vibrations. I’d hear a jumbo jet if I was 20 feet away from it. But the hearing aid has helped and it helped me develop the way I speak as well. “That’s where people see me differently.
“Themodern stereotype of a deaf person is deaf and dumb, lacking intelligence. That’swhat I want to break down.”
Work ing for retail giant American Golf for the past seven years and a loving dad to six-year-old Ruby, Cafferty has found a stability in his life that was rarely there during an angst-ridden childhood. Bullied at school for h is perceived disability, he was as hard on himself as some of his assailants as he fought to cope with the demons in his own head. After anger management classes, though, he has found the inner peace to take his game to a level he believes could propel him not just to success in Turkey next month but on to the Tartan Tour. Perth-born Cafferty said: “I was always the first deaf kid everyone had to deal with. I was the first deaf person in my high school, the first at college, the f irst to go to the University of Birmingham to do my PGA training, the first at my golf club. “It wasn’t just pressure on me, it was also on ever yone else hav ing to deal with me. At high school the teacher wanted to make l i fe ea s ie r fo rm e a n d w a n t e d to k now how – I didn’t know. I was 13, 14, wanted to play w ith friends and go to class w ithout
I was kicked in the face when I was down tying my shoelace
pressure, not be at the front and attracting attention. I wanted to be ‘normal’. But I was bullied. I’ve still got the bump on my nose because I was kicked in the face when I was down tying my shoelace. “They would take my hearing aid out and break it, things like that. “I ended up with a body guardto take me to my first class of the day as there were a few who would target me. My stepbrother eventually sorted thatout, had a word with the boys. They’d been told to leave me alone but it fell on deaf ears, ironically enough. “Thegolf helped but it was similar in that I was the first. I made friends but lost them as I always felt the world was against me. “‘My life’s hard enough, why am I getting a bad score ? Why did I three-putt?’ I blamed every thing on my deafness and ended up isolated from the other members as they were fed up withmy lack of anger control. Thathad an emotional and mental impact on me but I got to about 17 and realised I had to grow up, accept I’d never hear again. “So that’s what I want from this. I want people to read it and make others aware. I want kids who are suffering like I did to realise they don’t have to. I’m more levelheaded. I’ve not broken a club in a decade. “I had an incident at 14 when I was playing a great round and it fell apart in a couple of holes. “I picked my bag up – full of a borrowed set of irons – and threw them into a massive set of prickly bushes and stormed off.
“Theprofessional made me get them back – that was when I k new it had to stop. I’d lived with frustration inside my head for too long. All I could think was, ‘What the hel l had I ever done to make me deserve this?’ But I ended up getting anger management control and I’m on a pretty even keel now.”
It’s hard to imagine a guy as well-spoken, polite and accommodating ever being a club snapper – but it’s hard to imagine dealing with what he has if you’ve never experienced it either. Cafferty now has a far more positive vibe after winning the Scottish Deaf Golf Championships recently and preparing for the Deaflympics. He said: “I let my handicap lapse in 2012 after we had Ruby and I moved to Glasgow because I didn’t have time to play. “But it’s back down to two and I expect it’ll be cut to one shortly. I won the club championship at Milngavie in my first season back and got emotional when I received that trophy. Thatgave me reason to believe I’m good enough to play at a certain level, maybe not Challenge Tour or EuroPro Tour but one day I’d like to try the Tartan Tour. On any day I can post a good score and my aim is to get to at least scratch and into the plus figures if possible. “But with a family and working full-time it’s hard. It’s just another challenge though.” Cafferty heads off for Samsun with English team-mate Paul Waring after golf was made a medal sport at the Deaflympics for the first time. It may not have the profile of the Paralympics but Cafferty added: “It predates the Paralympics by about 40 years – it’s the second oldest multi-sport event outside the Olympics itself. “A lot of sports in the Paralympics didn’t let deaf people participate – they believed it wasn’t as big a disability as paralysis, loss of limbs or even being visually impaired.
“It’s frustrating. We talk about equality – Nike recently had an advert talking about it – but we spend over £ 300million on funding Olympic and Paralympic athletes in Britain while we get nothing.
“UK Deaf Sport is our umbrella organisation but the Government don’t recognise them on the same level as the others, which means we have to raise our own funds to get to Turkey. “We had to get £9000 in a few months just to make the deadline for entry. “We’ve had pledges from companies. I’ve been grateful to get free clothing from Nike through my work at American Golf and they’ve let me get other stuffat staffprice. “It has caused a bit of grief in the family because of the risk – I could have ended up seriously out of pocket if I had fallen short but it felt like too good an opportunity to miss. In the end it was a positive outcome. “I’ve represented Team Scotland in the Worlds and Euros but the Deaflympics is a level up. I feel I’ve got a decent chance.” Meanwhile, Cafferty is committed to making life better for others. He has already made a British Sign Language video for American Golf to encourage other deaf golfers – which has had thousands of views – and added: “I want to make a difference. “I’m not expecting anyone to come in with millions,I just want people to take notice. “Theguys at work are great as well. There’s always someone saying, ‘Oh, I’ll get the phone then will I Steven?’, having a laugh. “They include me in the group, which is good. I wasn’t included much growing up soit’ s nice to feel part of a family .”