Terry Riley

Terence (Terry) Riley (1944-2019), PhD, OBE, was a British deaf rights activist and broadcaster. He was Deaf and a British Sign Language user.

Early life Riley was born in Manchester in 1944 to Deaf parents, Mary and Terence (Snr), of Roman Catholic background. He was born hearing, but lost most of his hearing due to mastoiditis. His parents were assiduous members of the local Deaf club and they took him along since he was one week old. When Riley was 15, he became secretary of Manchester Deaf Centre.

Riley working life started working on the cheese counter at Seymour Mead grocers, then as a delivery boy, as a butcher and finally for the gas board.

Deaf activism Riley was involved with the British Deaf Association (BDA) for fifty years, serving at various times as a Branch Secretary, Branch Chairman, Area Council Chair, a member of the Executive Council, and for three consecutive terms as Chair of the BDA, from 2008 to 2018.

He received the BDA Medal of Honour in 2000. To the end of his life he lobbied for the legal recognition of British Sign Language in the UK.

In 2011, Riley was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts by the University of Wolverhampton.

In June 2014, he was awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting and the Deaf community.