Rhyl: Sign-language poet Dorothy Miles honoured with plaque

A celebrated deaf performer and sign-language poet has become the 16th "remarkable" Welsh woman to be recognized with a purple plaque.

Dorothy "Dot" Miles was born in Rhyl, Denbighshire, in 1931 and lost her hearing aged eight due to meningitis.

She became a key figure in the literary heritage of British Sign Language and the deaf community.

Her niece, Liz Deverill, said she "fought to make sure deaf people knew they had a place in the world".

She remembered her aunt's poetry as coming "straight from the heart, particularly her sign poetry which is a beautiful form of communication".

The Purple Plaques campaign was created to improve the recognition of "remarkable women in Wales".

Ms Deverill said after the unveiling that her aunt's inspiration came from the Welsh landscape and that she was proud to come from Wales.

After practicing poetry from a young age and then becoming deaf, Dot, she said, was keen to open "a whole new community and bridge the gap between the deaf and the hearing".

She went to school in Sussex due to a lack of specialist education in Wales and earned a scholarship to Gallaudet University, a deaf school in Washington DC.

Her enthusiastic performances and flamboyant sign language style inspired deaf people.

Dot stayed in America for 20 years and taught deaf pupils at the National Theatre of the Deaf in the US capital.

She was involved in the initial discussions around deaf programming at the BBC and the beginnings of See Hear show, a long-running TV magazine programme highlighting issues affecting the deaf community.

The Dorothy Miles Cultural Centre opened in 1992 in memory of her work as a "prominent deaf poet and playwright and a key figure in the literary heritage of BSL and the deaf community".It grew into Dot Sign Language, an organisation that aims to continue to bridge the gap between the deaf and the hearing world.

Dot died, aged 61, in January 1993.

Sue Essex, the chair of Purple Plaques Wales, said: "Dorothy's legacy is still celebrated today in the deaf community but she is not well known in the hearing world.

"By unveiling a purple plaque for her we hope to change this.

"She overcame difficulties in life to have a lasting impact - she is the true definition of a remarkable woman and a worthy recipient of a purple plaque."