Clive Mason

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**Clive Mason**
Clive Mason - Deaf British television presenter
Born:	Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Occupation:	Presenter Actor
Website:	See Hear Website

Clive Mason is a Deaf British televison presenter born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He was the first person to use British Sign Language on television. It was not until 2003 that BSL was recognised by the government as an official language.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life

Mason was born deaf, and at the age of five, he entered a school for deaf children. Before this age he had not been taught sign language and felt isolated due to the communication barrier.

[edit] Career

Before his career in television, Mason worked closely with Paddy Ladd, a deaf academic, who was researching BSL at a local polytechnic. Mason had been made redundant and decided to attend college. It was shortly after this that the BBC saw a video of Mason which was made as part of its research into BSL. It was from this that Mason was offered a job on See Hear, a programme for Deaf and Hard of hearing people. He was involved in various Christmas shows and pantomime specials. Twenty years later he is still with See Hear and is the longest serving member of staff on the programme. Due to his passion for highlighting issues of concern among the Deaf, in 2005 at the Remark! Film & TV Awards, Mason was presented with a lifetime achievement award^[1]. Judges called Mason a "deaf icon" and commended him with being the inspiration for many young deaf people becoming involved in the media^[2].

More recently Mason has been involved in preparing a signed version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He has also achieved Level 4 NVQ qualification in British Sign Language at the RNID. Clive said "This qualification will enable me to go forward and achieve my A1 assessor certificate. I have always been in the media world and would like to extend my skills to NVQ 3 teaching and assessing and work for universities. I would also like to encourage local deaf people to work alongside me.^[3]"