Dorothy Miles Obituary – Honoring Life of British Deaf Activist

Dorothy ‘Dot’ Miles was a Welsh poet and deaf activist who is being celebrated today, August 19th 2024 by Google Doodle on the occasion of her 93rd birthday.

Miles chose not to let a childhood disability dissuade her from greatness and went on to become a pioneer in her field and a fierce activist for deaf people.

Her life and career truly deserves celebrating,

Dorothy Miles obituary

Dorothy ‘Dot’ Miles (née Squire) was born 19 August 1931 in Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales, to James and Amy Squire (née Brick).

She was the youngest of her parents’ five children and in 1939 at the very young age of 8, contracted cerebrospinal meningitis that left her deaf for life.

Miles received her education at the Royal School for the Deaf and through her talents, managed to secure a scholarship to the Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.

A thoroughly remarkable student, Miles stood out and won prizes everywhere she went. She was editor of her school’s student magazine and won prizes for her writing and acting. She graduated with distinction in 1961.

Following her graduation from college, she joined the newly founded U.S. National Theatre of the Deaf and started composing poems in both English and British and American Sign Languages. In doing so she charted a path that led to her becoming an huge influence on generations of deaf poets that came after her.

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After teaching, writing and performing for a while in the United States she returned to the UK in 1977 to work with the British Deaf Association (BDA). She ended up creating more history as she developed the BDA dictionary and created a guide for BSL tutors. Miles also authored several influential books including Gestures: Poetry in Sign Language and British Sign Language: A Beginner’s Guide.

Dorothy Miles married a colleague student, Robert Thomas Miles, in September 1958 while still in school. Their marriage was short-lived as they divorced a year later.

Miles died in 1993 by suicide after a battle with depression. An inquest found she jumped from the window of her second-floor flat.  She was 61 at the time of her death and would have been 93 today.

A year before her death, the Dorothy Miles Cultural Centre was established in her honor. It was later renamed Dot Sign Language and is involved in advocating for connecting the Deaf to the hearing world.

Her incredible life was honored by the Welsh town of Rhyl in April this year with a plaque placed on a house she formerly lived in.

Happy birthday and RIP to the remarkable Dot Miles.