Teresa Garratty: SignHealth bring awareness to Deaf domestic violence

You can view the films here:https://www.signhealth.org.uk/our-projects/deafhope-projects/prevention-videos/

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to work as 1^st Assistant Director on some very important short films, and what an eye opening experience it was!

The charity SignHealth, are the commissioners of these short infomercials which centre around the theme of domestic abuse in its various forms.

Each film conveys a certain topic, from the importance of consent in interpersonal relationships, and the risks of sending of indecent images online, to little known-about topics such as honour based violence and FGM (female genital mutilation).

These are topics which are rarely spoken about in society and even less so in an accessible format, therefore Signhealth’s campaign aimed at improving Deaf people’s understanding of domestic violence was much needed.

It’s important to convey the message to a Deaf audience in a clear and concise manner. Overall the films achieve the goal of raising awareness with some very meaningful information.

The three most striking films raise issues that are not widely talked about in either the Deaf or hearing world. The first being “honour based violence”which touches on the subject of abuse due to religious or traditional beliefs, in response to ‘forbidden’ actions such as drinking alcohol and expressing different forms of sexuality.

Another film shines a light on the victims of FGM. There are many types of FGM and although they can be hard to learn about, it’s necessary to bring these conversations to the table, which SignHealth have done in a very powerful way. Finally, we are presented with the issue of Forced Marriage, which is still very prevalent in some cultures even within the UK.

As I was privileged to be involved in the creation of some of these films, I can assure you that the majority of the main creative team was Deaf led. SignHealth are striving to ensure that their services and information are tailor made FOR Deaf people BY Deaf people.

I would encourage a person viewing these films to afterwards further research each topic on the SignHealth website, as it is hard to cover every detail in a short clip, although SignHealth did well to condense each subject in a meaningful, coherent way. I did pick up on a piece of slightly misleading text from the “Sexting” film that implies that all forms of ‘sexting’ are illegal, which is not quite the case.

However, with a quick browse of the SignHealth website, you can discover that the law currently states that it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to send/receive images containing nudity but adults are allowed to do so at their own discretion. In addition, it should also be noted that distributing these images publicly (more commonly known as “revenge porn”) is illegal for all ages.

SignHealth have taken a very bold stance against domestic violence and that of course comes with risky territory, but I believe that the campaign was well-executed overall. I’m eager to see what the future holds for their film campaigns; I would personally like to see the area of emotional abuse explored, as this is often overlooked.

Deaf people having access to resources and education to help prevent physical and sexual abuse is a necessity, but there also needs to be more Deaf-friendly information about coercion, manipulation, gas lighting and other forms of psychological and emotional abuse, the warning signs of which can be even more difficult to detect.

SignHealth have done a great job so far and the overall message is clear; domestic violence, in all it’s forms, should not be excused or tolerated by anyone, Deaf people included.

 

 

You can view the films here: https://www.signhealth.org.uk/our-projects/deafhope-projects/prevention-videos/

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