Deaf News: Short film starring six-year-old Deaf girl nominated for Oscar

The Silent Child, a short film starring Maisie Sly, a six-year-old Deaf girl, has today been nominated for an Oscar for Best Short film, meaning that Maisie will be attending the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles.

The film’s nomination will shine a light on the issue of the lack of communication support for deaf children at mainstream schools, while sending out a positive message about the transformative effects of using sign language.

The short film was written by former Hollyoaks actress Rachel Shenton, who has also extensively supported Deaf charities in the UK, in particular children’s charity NDCS.

Shenton also stars in the film, which was directed by her partner, Chris Overton, who also previously starred in Channel 4’s soap opera.

Their film, The Silent Child, tells the story of a profoundly deaf four-year-old girl who is taught how to sign by her social worker.

Shenton first became involved in supporting Deaf charities following her father’s deafness, which affected him for the last two years of his life. A BBC article last week quoted Shenton as saying:

“As my involvement grew I saw the needless struggles that deaf children face through a lack of awareness about deafness.”

One statistic that particularly shocked Rachel is shown on-screen at the end of the film – 78% of school-aged deaf children attend mainstream schools without receiving any specialist provision.

“It’s a silent disability, you can’t see it and it’s not life threatening,” she explains. “So unless it’s touched your life in some way you wouldn’t even think about it.”

Congratulations to everyone involved from the Limping Chicken – and good luck for the awards!

Watch Maisie in an interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-42746612/profoundly-deaf-maisie-sly-is-the-star-of-a-short-film-which-may-be-nominated-for-an-oscar