DAVID Edgington is used to living in a 'silent' world.

Born profoundly deaf, 30-year-old David, from Queensbury, credits sport as a tool for communication and now he is using it to great effect in the Deaf Gym.

David's aim is to encourage more people with hearing impairments to exercise. He set up "The Deaf Gym" on Facebook in 2014 with another deaf personal trainer, Dean Chester, who works at Xercise4Less in Bolton.

The group was set up to provide support to the Deaf community and has almost 2,000 members.

With 900,000 people who are severely and profoundly deaf in the UK, there is plenty of scope for the initiative to develop.

Through research, David discovered that while there are many deaf gyms in America, there doesn't appear to be the same facility specifically for deaf people in the UK other than specialist gyms.

From the response they received from members joining their Deaf Gym Facebook page, they learned many were lacking in confidence to go to the gym alone and were struggling to lose weight due to the communication barrier.

Now they are hoping to motivate more deaf people to use gyms. "I hope that the deaf community will have a better and healthier future," says David.

His interest in fitness stems back to a love of sports at Deaf School. "I played a lot of sport and I got very good at it playing all sorts of sports.

"I've learnt that sport is all about teamwork and communication. This is a big advantage for us as we rely on our eyes and can communicate at a long distance without needing to shout, which is a very beneficial tool!"

Communication is a barrier most deaf people struggle to get over, but David says he always finds ways to adjust himself around people by letting them know he is deaf and reminding them to speak clear and normally.

"The hardest thing is when I speak clearly and they don't realise I am deaf and they tend to talk fast because they think I can 'hear well' which I can't. That can be frustrating," explains David.

He also believes we could all learn plenty from how Deaf people communicate.

"Those with sound hearing could learn a lot from the way Deaf people communicate, because Deaf people give you their full attention. Because we lip read, we have to focus hard on people’s lips. We’re trying to figure out what you’re saying, so we can’t switch off. Because we’re Deaf, we’re forced to really listen."

David says patience is the most important thing.

"The most important thing is to be patient with people and maintain a positive attitude and smile at them. If they don’t understand me, I just want them to let me know, so I can see how I can help them.

"When people feel easy and relaxed with me, it works well – especially at work, too."

Having the support of family and friends is a great support too.

"All my family is hearing and throughout my life I have been bilingual to both worlds. They communicated with me using speech and sign, mixing those together, but most of the time they speak to me more. My sister, Andrea, has always loved to sign to me. Now she is a fully qualified British Sign Language Interpreter!

"So, I am extremely grateful how my parents have been so patient with me and put me in the best schools they could find to help my future. Now I’m working in the gym at Xercise4Less as a personal trainer which is huge success for me!"

David says while sport has greater disability awareness and accessibility, gyms are different. "Everybody is minding their own business, working out on their own.

He recalls when he was initially introduced to a gym he wasn't sure what to do.

"When I first started in gym I had no idea how or what to do so, I taught myself and learned through my own experiences."

That gave David the impetus to become a personal trainer.

"That's where my idea for the Deaf Gym was born and that’s how I decided to be a personal trainer."

Looking to the future David says: "My goal for this year is to work harder and train clients as well as I can and include the deaf community too.

"I hope that more deaf personal trainers will able to work in Xercise4Less or other gyms in the near future.”

He added: “People don't come across meeting deaf people every day, but people in the gym are starting to recognise me better and accepting me for who I am, which is really wonderful feeling that I’m part of that world.”