About Stephanie
The experiences that shaped how I see communication, identity, and the world around me.
Stephanie Todd is the Deaf creator behind WovenAware.
Presented in BSL with English subtitles.
My Story
My name is Stephanie Todd.
I was born in Bermuda and moved to the UK at the age of five.
I attended a mainstream primary school with a Deaf unit before later moving to a Deaf secondary boarding school.
Growing up, I learned how to navigate hearing and Deaf spaces.
Sometimes that meant adapting.
Sometimes it meant filling gaps.
Sometimes it meant working harder to communicate.
Those experiences continue to shape how I understand communication, belonging, and access.
They also shaped many of the questions I still carry today.
Where WovenAware Began
Before there was WovenAware, there was Becoming Aware – a personal journey of reflection.
I began writing about questions I could not stop noticing: communication, identity, relationships, and the systems shaping everyday life.
What began privately gradually grew into WovenAware.
Shared Beyond WovenAware
In October 2025, I shared part of my story with The Limping Chicken ↗.
It was an opportunity to reflect on Deaf identity, communication, belonging, and the experiences that shaped me.
It also marked an important moment in the journey from private reflection to public storytelling.
Some stories begin quietly.
This was one of the first shared more widely.
A Letter to My Younger Self
A moment where past and present meet.
Motherhood and Motivation
I am a mum of three children, including one Deaf son.
Watching my children grow continues to shape why this work matters.
Deaf identity should be valued.
Not fixed.
Not overlooked.
Access is not a favour.
It is a right.
What Shapes This Work
This work begins with lived experience – real moments, real questions, and the systems people navigate.
Communication.
Identity.
Belonging.
Access.
Systems.
These themes overlap and reveal patterns.
Some reflections begin with personal experience.
Others begin with something I notice in the world around me.
Together, they shape the questions I continue to explore through WovenAware.
A Living Body of Work
WovenAware is also my living body of work.
It brings together what I notice, how I think, the questions I ask, and what I create from lived experience.
Some of that becomes reflection.
Some becomes storytelling.
Some becomes resources and tools.
And some develops into conversations, collaborations, and opportunities beyond the platform.
In many ways, WovenAware is also a portfolio – not simply of finished work, but of the perspective, thinking, and approach I can bring elsewhere.
From Lived Experience to Participation
WovenAware has grown alongside the ways I have begun contributing beyond this platform.
In July 2026, through my involvement with Social Care Future Wokingham’s Inclusive Design Group, I contributed lived experience to conversations about accessibility, inclusion and belonging.
I spoke at Wokingham Borough Council’s Full Council meeting.
I shared part of my own experience of growing up Deaf, alongside reflections on communication, access, and what meaningful inclusion can look like.
It was a moment where lived experience moved beyond reflection and into a public space.
An Ongoing Journey
This work continues to grow through new experiences, questions, and reflection.
On Instagram, I share Life Behind WovenAware – personal reflections, signed moments, everyday experiences, and quiet pieces of life that continue to shape this work.
Follow WovenAware on Instagram ↗
The Longer Thread
Some experiences only make sense when I look at them across time.
Journeys brings together longer personal reflections on what I lived, what changed, what became visible, and what I carry forward.