I love going to the cinema, so naturally I was really excited to find out that Walt Disney's adaption of Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol" has become the first 3D film to enable subtitles.
Apparently the problem for years has been where to put the captions; as putting them in the wrong place could make the audience feel sick!
For more information and subtitled screenings see:
Last weekend the See Hear team went up to Wolverhampton for the Deaffest. Horrible weather, brilliant films and an amazing awards ceremony, Sabina was a wonderful host and Rob Roy was very funny. Kudos to the Deaffest team for a wonderful event.
If you missed it, the results are as follows:
Best TV Programme:
Wicked Series 2 Prog 1 Ramon Woolfe, UK, 2009
Best Experimental Film:
The Deaf Man Dir DJ Kurs, USA, 2007
Best Factual Film:
See Hear: The Deaf Brain Dir Sarah Tavner, UK, 2009
Best Drama:
Stiletto Dir William Mager, UK, 2008
Congratulations to Ramon, DJ, Sarah and William!
In other news, the Deaffest organisers announced that next years Deaffest will be held in May. See you there - in shorts and sandals!Â
For many of us, watching captioned performances can be frustrating - we all watch the same monitors displaying the live text as the performance progresses.
The way deaf people watch captioned theatre could be changing with the launch of a new device.
AirScript's developers, Cambridge Consultants, hope the handsets will attract more tourists to theatres.
The captions, received over wifi, scroll throughout live performances.
The handsets have LED backlighting with a black background and orange text to minimise glare. They have a battery life of up to six hours.
Sensations on the skin play a part in how people hear speech, say Canadian researchers.
A study found that inaudible puffs of air delivered alongside certain sounds influenced what participants thought they were listening to.
Writing in the journal Nature, the team said the findings showed that audio and visual clues were not the only important factors in how people hear.
That doesn't surprise us at See Hear - we've found that many deaf people are more sensitive to vibration and external stimuli. For more on this story click the link:
This week See Hear is on the football pitch as Memnos meets Roanna Simmons, the player coach of Fulham Deaf FC. They share coaching tips and test their managerial skills in a five-a-side challenge!
We're back with two of our children who we've been following since they started primary school. Aidan and Amie are six years old, and life's been eventful for them both. We catch up with their teachers, parents and friends to see what's happened in their lives. Next week we'll be seeing Lucy and Yasin.
We also preview some of the top films screening at this year's Deaffest, which takes place at the end of the month in Wolverhampton, and we talk to some of the hottest directors. Find out more about this weekend's festival at:
Plus, Memnos is back with another of his Stories Behind the Signs!
At first glance, we thought this headline led to the story of a Sicilian vendetta out of control, but the truth is much more unusual.
A Deaf Asian man claims he was assaulted in his own home by his mother and father in law, and in the ensuing confusion bit his mother in law's thumb so hard that she has required four operations to date.
The court case is still ongoing, but you can read more about it here:
Channel 4's Cast Offs, a new disabled comedy drama featuring Sophie Woolley as one of six disabled people banished to a remote island for a new reality TV show, starts next Tuesday at 11pm on Channel 4. There's been tons of press coverage.
The Office producer Ash Atalla, himself disabled, has had a similar idea, and is producing a one off comedy pilot called The Amazing Dermot (heavily reminiscent of Mitchell and Webb's Magicians) airing Friday 4th December. Ash Atalla makes some interesting, if confusing, comments about casting in this article:
At See Hear we wonder what the criteria were for casting the deaf role - were they too deaf, or not deaf enough? Were they supposed to speak or sign? All will be revealed on 4th December we're sure.
Congratulations to Genevieve Barr who won the part in the end - she did a couple of weeks' work experience on See Hear back in the day, you know...
26 people have been charged with conspiring to defraud the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of millions of pounds for providing video relay services. Please find the US Department of Justice statement after the jump.
A lot of you are still talking about the recent debate we hosted on Sign Song. Many of you also disagree with the views of our panellists and some of the comments made - please do let us know your views by email or on the See Hear messageboard!
The British Music Experience at the O2 has a free Sign Language interpreting service available if booked in advance at: customerservices@theo2.co.uk.
Want to see some sign song and make up your mind yourself?
You could head to Trafalgar Square for some Christmas signed songs in front of the Christmas tree, on Friday 11 December between 7pm and 8pm.
We only saw the briefest glimpse of Jayne Fletcher on the programme. If you'd like to see her live and unleashed then Jayne along with her singing partner Omoyele and Stuart Anderson are next performing on the 24th of November at The Comedy pub in Soho. The address is 7 Oxendon Street, London, SW1Y 4EE.
You may remember our recent item on classroom acoustics on See Hear. Well apparently noisy classrooms can affect youngsters' hearing as well as reading ability, scientists have claimed.
Kids with Dyslexia have difficulty listening to teachers above background classroom noise. The findings could see new ways of diagnosing sufferers based on hearing tests. It may also see them put at the front of class or provided with wireless devices to pick up information better.
Read more about this story at the
In Zambia, that is.
The Zambia Agency for Persons with Disability (ZAPD) has expressed worry at the increased number of sign language interpreters who have commercialised the language.
ZAPD Director General, Charles Mwape says interpreters have abused the language and are making profit out of it at the expense of the deaf.
He says government, in conjunction with the agency, is working towards developing a policy that will regulate the conduct of interpreters so that sign language is not abused.
Well, according to this rather vague article anyway, which doesn't specify exactly how these interpreters are abusing the language. But it's good to see that Zambia is taking positive steps.
The murder trial of a former Nazi SS trooper was postponed yesterday because the hard-of-hearing defendant was struggling to follow proceedings.
Heinrich Boere, 88, is on trial in the town of Aachen, accused of killing three civilians in German-occupied Netherlands during World War II.
Presiding judge Gerd Nohl said the case would only continue once Boere was equipped with a hearing aid, in response to a request by his lawyers.
The defense was criticised for trying to delay the trial, after Boere's hearing problems cropped up unexpectedly. Asked the previous day whether he had been able to hear the charges read against him, Boere had answered, "No."
Boere is sixth on a list of the 10 most wanted Nazi war criminals issued by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem.
This week, See Hear profiles two deaf men following their passions.
Chris King is an up and coming fashion talent who has created his own designer label reflecting his unique sense of style. We join him at his latest catwalk show in Liverpool, as he prepares to launch a brand new clothing collection. Find out more about his clothes at:
We travel to Cheshire to see teenage motocross sensation Josh Waterman and his team attempt to win a national competition. Prepare to be drawn into a strange world of two stroke engines and brave boys and girls riding around dirt tracks at breakneck speeds! Most amazingly, Josh is only 18 - and he was already riding and winning at the age of 12, as seen in this documentary (unsubtitled):
/dna/h2g2/A3866141In the Baby Diaries, Melissa's stuck in limbo, waiting to take baby Isobel home; and Memnos is back with another of his Stories Behind the Signs.
Check out the See Hear blog for more news, links and amusing stories from the deaf world:
/seehearA pair of teenage girls pretending to be deaf in order to collect money have been caught red-handed (excuse the pun) by a signing copper.
The two young girls were faking their deafness to con shoppers and market traders in North Lichfield into donating cash for their equally fake 'charity'.
They were rumbled when Hilary Gittins, a Police Community Support Officer, happened across them. She has a 13 year old son who is deaf, and knows Makaton, which is a type of sign language for children.
She attempted to communicate with the girls in sign language, and soon realised they weren't fluent signers - or deaf.
The two girls, aged 13 and 15, had their takings confiscated and were sent home. The £100 they raised has now been donated to the charity Hearing Dogs For Deaf People. Ahh, we love a happy ending...
Oscar winning actress and See Hear interviewee Marlee Matlin is campaigning for improved subtitling on the internet.
Many online film and television sites such as Netflix and iTunes offer a wide range of films and TV shows - very few of which are captioned.
This has been a source of irritation to many deaf people - and Marlee has had enough.
She is taking part in a Federal hearing on the 6th of November in Washington, where she'll no doubt be drawing on her West Wing experience to deliver a barnstorming speech.
Details of the conference here:
Follow Marlee's updates on twitter. Like she says, "I may be unable to hear but I'm the loudest person you'll ever meet. And silence is the last thing the world will ever hear from me."
A Japanese firm is developing glasses that provide subtitles.
I'm sure you don't need me to explain how mindbogglingly awesome such a device could be for deaf and hard of hearing people.
Read more here:
Angelfish Productions - husband and wife team John and Paula Maidens - have won the RTS Midlands award for 'Best Fiction' for the short film Caterpillar.
Caterpillar is a short film about a sensitive and nature-loving young deaf boy who goes out on a pheasant shoot with his uncle.
The film was written and directed by Mr Maidens, who is deaf himself, while Mrs Maidens was the associate producer.
It faced stiff competition in its category from well-known names such as the popular ´óÏó´«Ã½ daytime soap Doctors.
Mr and Mrs Maidens both worked for various ´óÏó´«Ã½ productions (including See Hear) before leaving to set up their own company.
For more information about Angelfish's award-winning film visit:
Recently there have been rumours over a change of leadership at the British Deaf Association (BDA). They have now released a statement, reprinted below in full:
"The Board of Trustees announces the resignation of the Chief Executive Simon Wilkinson-Blake as from 1st October. Simon will leave the BDA on 31st December 2009 to take on new challenges and pursue new horizons.
The Board of Trustees would like to express their appreciation for the diligence and commitment that Simon has shown over the past 18 months. He has actively supported the Board in its direction to become once again the voice of the Deaf Community.
The Board of Trustees, Senior Management Team and Chief Executive are still deliberating to ensure a smooth transition and all future plans. The Board will announce more information in November after their next board of trustees meeting."
Terry Riley
Chair, British Deaf Association
In this week's See Hear, our extended investigation asks whether deaf prisoners are getting equal treatment.
In one part of the country, the mother of a young deaf man in a Young Offenders' Institution fears that her visits are his only opportunities to communicate, as he's the sole sign language user in the prison. She's worried that he is losing out without full access to education and interpreter support on the education and rehabilitation courses he needs to attend.
We also spoke to a former prisoner about his experiences as a deaf person behind bars. He found that the lack of interpreter access within the prison system also left him unable to fully participate in elements of prison life.
But at another prison, Deaf chaplain Vera Hunt volunteers to visit deaf prisoners to provide emotional support, and she teaches other inmates BSL Level 1.
Armed with our findings, we challenged the Ministry of Justice, who maintained that the Prison Service is meeting its duty to give fair treatment to deaf prisoners, while conceding that textphones or email access are only available to certain deaf prisoners in a few establishments.
We're also visiting Melissa for the fourth instalment of her Baby Diaries, where she relives the traumatic birth of her beautiful baby Isobel. It's very emotional stuff... have a box of tissues nearby.
The Magic Hour is a new, groundbreaking UK-wide short film scheme for deaf and disabled filmmakers.
Throughout November, the 2009 films will be touring the UK with introductions from 104 films' own Justin Edgar as well as the filmmakers themselves.
PARAPHERNALIA
Writer/Director: John Williams
Producers: Julie Murnaghan and Katie Mackin
HANDS SOLO
Writer: Charlie Swinbourne
Director: William Mager
Producer: Colin Pons and Scott James Bassett
BUTTERMOUTH
Writer/Director/Producer: Andrew Gibbs
FOLLOW ME ON MY JOURNEY TO DIE
Writer/Director: Katherine Araniello
Producer: Justin Edgar
For details of screenings visit:
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