I just watched The Silent Child for a second time and it was still just as brilliant as the first. What. A. Film.

I was not really sure how much I would be able to relate to the film when I realised that it was about a severely deaf child, me being only partially deaf and all. But I do struggle with my hearing, and thus this short film still spoke to me. It’s beautifully done, very well thought through and wonderfully acted. Above all, its message is so important.

When I was at school I had to learn French, or I could have learnt German. I never had the option of sign language. But the school knew that I was part deaf. They knew. I was never good at French really, I got a D in the GCSE, I was told to go to extra speaking classes at lunchtimes, and my listening exam they put my in the hall as far away from the speaker as humanly possible. So I sucked. I don’t try to speak French unless I’m around good friends, or those with a sense of humour.

I first discovered sign language at the age of ten, I had to learn the alphabet for brownies. After that it was university, at Deaf Culture Society. What this society gave me was unreal, I would go into a room where talking was band. The only communication that could happen was sign language. It was the first time I had been in a room where I understood everything. After hardly any lessons.

I loved it. I picked it up really well and it was such a confidence boost. Plus, its much more useful for me than French! That’s why I thought Silent Child was amazing, I understood completely. I understood the need for sign, I understood the isolation, I understood the pain. I will not tell you any more as you need to go watch it yourself! I have been in plenty of situations where I cannot hear properly, where I struggle and sometimes no one cares. And there’s not much I can do.

I stand with a foot in each world. I cannot fully move to the deaf world as I have no means to learn sign language fully. I cannot fully be in the hearing world as I struggle to understand everything that is said around me. But thankfully I can ask for a big apple in French.

Siobhan