https://www.thesilentchildmovie.com/

Inspired by real life events, Oscar winning film ‘The Silent Child’ centres around a profoundly deaf four year old girl named Libby who is born into a hearing family and lives in a world of silence until a social worker teaches her the gift of communication through British Sign Language.

Rachel Shenton – writer and actress:   “My brilliant father lost his hearing very suddenly when I was 12 years old and lived the last 2 years of his life profoundly deaf. I witnessed first hand the huge effects deafness has on a family. Simple things we took for granted like phoning him to see what time he’s home, eating out, a knock on the door and shouting from the next room among other things suddenly became difficult, some even impossible. I also witnessed my super hero dad for the first time seem vulnerable and I noticed how easy it was for people to leave him out.
90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents with no experience of deafness often resulting in limited communication between the parent and child, meaning a child can start school with little to no communication skills. Since the closure of almost all deaf schools, deaf children now have to attend mainstream school and shockingly over 78% of deaf children attend mainstream school with no specialised support in place. This is heavily reflected in their grades as well as their mental health and well being.
We hope this movie helps to get sign language recognised in schools and give a voice to all the silent children around the world.” – www.the silentchildmovie.com

The film can be purchased and viewed on Youtube: