Welcome 2 My Deaf World
- Country
- Australia
- Year
- 2004
- Director
- Helen Gaynor
- Producer
- Sally Ingleton
- Finance
- Film Finance Corporation Australia, SBS Independent, Grant Deaf Children Australia
- Budget
- AUD 300,000
- Length
- 52 minutes
Synopsis
Bethany Rose and Scott Masterson are schoolmates, a couple of energetic and charming teenagers who share 3 things – adolescence, school, and deafness. We see deafness as a disability to be cured. But to Bethany and Scott, their deaf world is a rich culture of human possibility, with its own language, rules, challenges and inspirations. Above all, it is about seeing, and dancing a language of profound gestural communication. It is a culture that few people know or fully understand.
WELCOME 2 MY DEAF WORLD follows Bethany and Scott through the last few months of their schooling at the Victorian College for the Deaf (VCD), Australia's first school for deaf kids, and now the only place that teaches in sign language from Prep to Year 12. With dreams of creative, sporting and academic success, both teenagers are eager to move beyond their sheltered lives and enter the wider world.
Impact
WELCOME 2 MY DEAF WORLD has been nominated for Best Documentary in the 2006 AFI Awards and the 2006 ATOM awards. Welcome 2 My Deaf World screened on SBS on 14th September 2006. It received ratings indicating an audience of around 250,000. Comments posted to the SBS website support the impact this documentary has had on community perceptions of deafness and disability in general.
Some comments were:
"I never understood why some deaf people had trouble speaking English, but now I realize how hard it must be for them if they've never heard it. Lots of insight, which isn't something TV gives you every day." Alex Jackson.
"The thing that struck me most was that deaf and hearing people experience the exact same issues as teens; self-esteem and self expression, love, career choices. Rebecca …I have wonderful parents who supported my deafness and told me that I could do anything that I wanted and I am glad that they gave me the chance to communicate in society with people of different problems. Not all deaf people are mute. We can communicate. We are like you!" Simone Williams