Review: ‘ALT Jay, ‘ a short film about deaf and disabled personal trainer Jay Southern (BSL)

ALT Jay is a heart warming short film that tells the story of Jay Southern – along with his identical twin Matt – and describes their pioneering involvement in the Alternative Movement community in Essex.

The ALT Movement fitness community encourages and supports deaf and disabled young people to get involved in personal training and CrossFit. With inclusivity at the basis of all they do, the film ALT Jay shows us the positive effect training can have on those who are deaf and/or disabled and how anyone can benefit from training, once the right access is in place.

Jay is a deaf sign language user. He also has cerebral palsy. His twin brother Matt is able bodied and hearing and has been signing with Jay and their family his whole life.

The bond between Jay and Matt is immediately evident with their brotherly banter and light hearted jokes. We really love each other,’ Jay tells the audience. Matt pipes back, ‘I love you but I don’t like you’ and the pair chuckle on screen.

We later find out how protective Matt was towards Jay growing up and how there were times Matt wanted to be deaf, just like his brother too.

Their Mum, Tina, recounts how the family all started signing when Jay was just ten months old and she describes in detail the anger she and Matt felt when they noticed Jay was getting left out of Physical Education lessons at school, despite his love for sport.

And so, armed with the support of his family, Jay found personal trainer Craig Graham who Jay jokingly describes as appearing like a ‘huge, giant’ when he first met him.

Craig had never worked with anyone who has cerebral palsy before but after noticing the positive effects Jay was taking from their CrossFit sessions and the experience he gained, a whole new world of clients soon began reaching out for Craig’s expertise.

Working together with Jay and Matt and a brand new team of personal trainers, Craig saw the birth of the ALT movement; an individual, inclusive gym that supports people of all disabilities to train together.

ALT Jay is a must-watch, and whilst the documentary rightly states that ‘being disabled doesn’t make you inspirational’ it is undoubtedly inspiring to see how a team have worked together to create a solution for individuals who are usually shunned or excluded from the training world.

The film is also beautifully directed and edited, with a gentle quality to it that hints at the love between the Southern family and ALT Movement community and the friendliness that is at the heart of all they do.

If nothing else, I hope this film reminds viewers of the barriers that commonly exist for deaf and/or disabled people in the training world and is an example of how – with a little open mindedness and curiosity – the fitness world most definitely can be an inclusive and welcoming place for all.

ALT Jay is directed by emerging disabled filmmaker Stefan Pollak and has been supported by Together TV’s Diverse Film Fund in partnership with Whisper, who is producing the paralympics. You can watch ALT Jay online here.

Review by Rebecca A Withey.