John Wilson was born deaf. He is a freelance consultant working in the field of Deaf Arts and British Sign Language, with a wide range of experience as a deaf arts practitioner, a theatre and television actor, a creative signer, and a director of numerous productions.

His work as a sign poet and performer has been well received, and John has been part of several projects both in the UK and internationally to promote creative sign through the medium of BSL. John works with a long list of major museums and galleries across the UK, including the Tate Galleries, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle and Holyrood Palace. He leads BSL tours at London Zoo, Stonehenge, Tower Bridge and is an accredited BSL guide at Hampton Court Palace. From 2017 to 2020 he was curator of a programme of BSL tours at the Royal Academy of Arts – the first profoundly deaf person to hold such a role. Likewise in 2020 he was the first profoundly deaf person appointed as External Examiner by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has also worked on several training programmes to prepare the next generation of Deaf BSL-guides, most recently with Artes Mundi in Cardiff. John has also previously been a Trustee of the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust which makes films and TV for the Deaf community in BSL.

He has recently contributed to a film My National Gallery made by the National Gallery to celebrate its 200th anniversary.

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust