Charlie Swinbourne: How Deaf filmmaker Ted Evans’s career hit new heights at the Paralympics

In August, 80,000 people piled into London’s Olympic stadium for the spectacular opening ceremony for the 2012 Paralympic Games. But for one of them, it was the 10 minutes before the ceremony began that were extra special.

Deaf film-maker Ted Evans’ 10-minute film, Look Up, which he co-directed with Bim Ajadi, kicked off the live show and was the culmination of months of hard work. “Seeing it on the screens, with thousands of people watching, was like reaching the top of a mountain,” he says. “I keep saying to myself, ‘did that actually happen?'”

For Evans, who is profoundly deaf in one ear and severely deaf in the other, making the film was just one stage in a bigger journey. Four years ago, he was unemployed, and by his own admission, “a bit lost”.

He had developed a passion for music, spending hours in a shed in his parents’ garden composing songs. But after attracting fans on MySpace and gaining interest from a record company, he hit a brick wall.

To read the rest of this feature, go to: http://careers.guardian.co.uk/deaf-filmmaker-ted-evans-paralympics

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