SHE is Scotland’s first deaf church minister who signs sea shanties in a choir and has a black belt in kickboxing.

But Reverend Mary Whittaker had to learn sign language in secret in the school playground to avoid being punished by her teachers.

Like many deaf children of her generation, she grew up thinking “deaf children either became hearing, or died at 16 or 17, because we never knew or saw any deaf adults”.

The 61-year-old, from Lhanbryde, Moray, who is the only British Sign Language (BSL) user ordained in the Church of Scotland, said even in today’s society there were still “pockets” where signing was frowned upon.

Rev Whittaker, however, has never let anything stand in her way. In her spare time she even gained her black belt in kickboxing aged 58, despite suffering from osteoarthritis.

“A friend asked me to go with her and after a year I eventually gave in and went along. I won a raffle for a one-to-one lesson and I never looked back.

“The good thing about kickboxing is that it is very visual. Obviously you need to know some technical words, but the instructor will write it down for me and then demonstrate it.”

She said: “I like to empower other deaf people. When you’re growing up and are expected to lipread and can’t do it, it makes you feel as if you’re not allowed to be deaf. You feel like you have to become hearing.

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“People would say ‘you can’t do that, ‘that’s not suitable’. When I said I wanted to become a minister, one man said, ‘no, if you want to do that, you’ll have to have speech therapy’. But I’ve been deaf since I was two. I can’t remember the sound of voices, so how is speech therapy going to help me?

“People need to be accepting that everyone is different, and the only way to achieve that is through education and more deaf role models.”

In 2011 she fulfilled her dream of being ordained into the Church of Scotland, before graduating from Aberdeen University with a Bachelor of Divinity. And following her more recent induction as the north region’s minister to the deaf, she now proudly signs sermons to congregations across much of Scotland, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and the Outer Hebrides.

She is the Church’s first deaf minister of word and sacrament who relies on BSL to communicate and it is her role to lead and develop the deaf congregations from Perth to Shetland.

She said: “We sit in a circle rather than pews because in a circle we can see each other better for communication. It’s also a lot more Deaf minister kicking out old prejudices Reverend Mary Whittaker is the first deaf minister to be ordained in the Church of Scotland Mary lost her hearing when she was two She gained her black belt in kickboxing at the age of 58, despite suffering from osteoarthritis A deaf child needs a deaf role model Reverend who became a black belt at 58 tells how sign language was frowned upon when she was growing up.

During lockdown, however, she has been communicating with her congregations by writing to them each week. Rev Whittaker is also founder of an Aberdeen-based choir called Signing Hands, which is still going strong after 25 years.

She also signs sea shanties with a choir in Aberdeen. Rev Whittaker, however, was never formally taught how to sign. Instead she had to pick up the language “in secret” in the school playground.

She attended a school for the deaf from the age of three, but as the focus was always on lip-reading and speech, she said: “If we were caught signing, we were punished. The teacher would hit you across the knuckles with a ruler and then you couldn’t sign, it was so painful.

“There was always a feeling you were not allowed to be deaf and they were trying to make you hearing.”

Rev Whittaker, who grew up in Yorkshire but has lived most of her life in Scotland, has been profoundly deaf since she was just two.

She said: “I was staying away from home and I don’t know if I got a shock or it was caused by antibiotics I was on at the time for tonsillitis, but it was sudden. “Mum said when she came back I was like a different child – I wouldn’t speak to anyone and hid under the table.”

But she hailed her family and friends for their support, including her loyal hearing dog Clark, who is trained to alert her when the doorbell rings, when her alarm clock goes off and when there is a fire alarm.

She said: “There are still a few pockets [in society] that don’t like deaf children signing. Attitudes need to change and that’s all about education. A deaf child needs a deaf role model.”