Profoundly deaf Fife student's joy at graduating

Paige Elliott (22), who lives in Kinglassie, has completed her HNC in Fashion Make-up with the GlamCandy make-up school – graduating with an A during the summer.

After taking a short introductory course in makeup artistry, Paige realised that she had found her calling and decided to pursue further education in the field - after receiving encouragement from one of her tutors.

Paige said: “One of my tutors encouraged me to do HNC fashion makeup after the introductory course because she thought I could do it, and that I was talented at makeup”.

After enrolling at GlamCandy, Paige said that knowing she would be the only deaf student meant she felt nervous entering the process. She relied on lip reading to follow along during demonstrations given by her tutors.

However, Paige said the support from GlamCandy ensured her experience was “amazing”. She was able to follow tutorials thanks to support from a British Sign Language translator and lecture notes.

She added: “The support from them was amazing. They made sure that I didn’t miss anything so I wasn’t left behind. They also made sure that I had no issues with coursework".

The experience has been mutually beneficial for both, with Paige providing the school with some advice on how to communicate with deaf students.

She explained: “I gave them some advice and I taught them some sign language because they were interested in sign language. Tutors had their first experience working with a deaf person and they will be able to use it again in the future”.

Next for Paige, she hopes to complete her HNC at Edinburgh College before proceeding on to York University to complete a BA (Hons) Media Make-up, Special Effects and Hair Design course.

Asked what advice she would give to anyone wishing to follow in her footsteps, she said: “Take a short course introduction to make-up and see if it’s something that you will enjoy, and be passionate about make-up.

“I would say just keep practising with make-up and never give up. It will take time to improve your make-up skills.”