Cheryl hopes young deaf people join her pod squad
A Motherwell woman is hoping to raise awareness and inspire people with her new podcast.
Cheryl Devlin, 34, was born profoundly deaf and wants to make video podcasts accessible for deaf people.
Cheryl is a designer and was inspired to appreciate art by her grandfather, who taught her to draw.
After discovering there isn’t a lot of support for young adults who are deaf, she hopes to change this with her new endeavour.
The podcast will focus on Cheryl’s daily life and aims to inspire young deaf adults.
It will be released every Thursday on YouTube with full captions, as well as on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Unfortunately Spotify and Apple don’t yet offer captions on their podcasts, but Cheryl hopes this will change.
She said: “I talk about barriers and how I overcame them and about how I went from school to college and then into my career as a designer. It’s a very scary transition for young people to leave school, so just imagine how it is for deaf children.
“This is why I want to interview people on my podcast about how they managed to do it.
“Mental health is so important to me too, as I felt I didn’t have enough support leaving school going to college.
“I loved my experience and I did it on my own but I had the confidence and was determined.
“Some deaf children might not be like me. They need more deaf people inspiring them and getting them excited for their future.
“I have a deaf son and I worry about his struggles, so I’m trying to make sure things change so he and other children have better accessibility in the future.
“Podcasts are growing massively and it’s so disappointing they haven’t thought about adding captions in Spotify or Apple.
“It would be amazing if they did, but at the moment I rely on apps that cost money or have a longer process.”
Cheryl is getting help with audio and subtitles from Nexilus Audio as well as G4 Podcast Studio, where she records each episode.