Teresa Garratty: More young deaf people should be seen on film sets

I recently landed myself on a mainstream film set for the first time in a long while and I was prepared for the usual. Getting left out, falling behind, not understanding much and generally feeling kind of useless.

This was all totally for no reason of course. The crew were lovely. Thoughtful of my deafness but not patronisingly so. I was able to my job and apparently do it quite well!

During one of my many cups of tea (I never say no to tea!) I took a glance around the room and noticed something. Something that highlighted a stark difference between deaf and mainstream film sets.

That difference was: youth. Particularly students.

On almost every mainstream shoot I’ve been on there’s always been a little selection of work experience runners. Sometimes different groups for each day. They’re usually their as part of a university course or sometimes because they’re getting their foot in the door.

But I rarely see this on deaf film sets.

There’s usually someone in the role of runner or PA but they’re always a working adult and they’re hired specifically for that role.

The difference with work experience is that you get to shadow a department or individual while also performing runner like/assistant tasks. This gives you the chance to see how each department works, what people physically do and how they do it. You get to ask real questions about the job from people who are living it. You learn skills that you can actually apply to a tangible career path.

It’s an opportunity to scope out the industry and see where you think you might like to progress. It’s also great for networking and making new connections that can provide invaluable advice you can’t always get from studying.

So why aren’t we doing this for young deaf people? Do they not want to? Will the expenses be too costly? Is it a waste of everyone’s time?

All of those sound like poor excuses to me. As someone who knows how challenging it is to be successful in the arts, getting these experiences and connections in early is important.

There will come a time when working for experience just isn’t affordable anymore (hello rent?) and it will feel nigh on impossible to move things forward and build a career. The early bird does indeed get the worm!

So what can we do to help our little deaf birdies? The obvious solution seems to be; create more work experience opportunities, but this will have to be done carefully and well funded.

Access needs have to be taken into account as well as financial help but there has to be a way. I’d love to see as many young deaf people on set as I have young hearing people. Let’s get them involved, so they can shadow professionals and meet deaf role models.

Let’s help young deaf people get worms! Wait…this bird analogy has taken an awkward turn…you know what I mean!

Read more of Teresa’s posts (with cartoons!) by clicking here.

Teresa is a freelance film maker, photographer and full time cynic. At school, she was voted “Most likely to end up in a lunatic asylum”, a fate which has thus far been avoided. Her pet hates are telephones, intercoms and all living things. Follow her on Twitter as @TGarratty