While reading Paddy Ladd's 'Understanding Deaf Culture: Searching For Deafhood', he stated that 'the construction of deaf communitites is deeply woven into patterns of ideas and ideologies placed in your head by people you have never met' (2003, p.11)
So I had an interview with Mike Hadley, a deaf person, going through a few questions to give me a better understanding on what it's like as I have no first hand experience myself. I did this to give the documentary a more realistic view point, displaying real issues from a deaf persons point of view. This is how it went:
Mike Hadley Interview
1. What do you find most challenging about everyday life?
Communicating with other 'hearing' people face to face or on the telephone. Also, listening to a lecturer/teacher especially the ones with beards which makes it difficult for me to lip read. Another thing is watching something on the telly without subtitles - it's like watching telly without the sound on to you guys.
2. Do you see your disability as a problem, or does it not get in the way too much?
Having being deaf in my whole life- I accept the fact that I am deaf and there is nothing I can so about it, and for it to not get in the way of my life I have to adapt, for example me not being able to use the phone, instead I have to use text Messaging, or a minicom. The only time I would have problem with my disability is other people's view on the deaf society- they usually think deaf people as 'dumb' but that's not the case.
3. If you could imagine sound in general, what words spring to mind? And if you could imagine what some everyday objects sounded like, such as a kettle or a car for example, how would you describe it?
Difficult question, we can never hear sound like the way u hear them, if I would have to imagine them- I would say the everyday objects would be clearer to hear through ur ears. But for an example - when I first had a cochlear implant and when I flushed the toilet it sounded like a round of applause when I heard it for the 1st time.
4. Is there a sort of ambient noise or is everything completely silent?
in my case everything is completely silent- but I have heard of some deaf people which constantly hear buzzing noise, can't remember what is that called.
5. How well do you feel and pick up on vibrations from certain sounds?
I can pick up vibrations very well, but it can be hard to predict what is causing it, all I pick up is how big is it.
6. Do you know many other deaf people? If so, do you feel like part of a separate community with them?
Yes and yes.
7. Without your hearing, do you feel like your other senses are heightened?
yes i feel that my other sense is heightened, especially my eyes as I feel I uses them a lot more to make up for my hearing losses.
I have also been reading the book 'Writing, directing, and producing documentary films and videos' by Alan Rosenthal to pick up some tips on how to construct my film and make it look as real and professional as possible. For example one point he states is that 'In shooting you aim for one thing, maximum naturalism: your key objective is to get people to behave in the most genuine way in front of the camera' (1996, p.154). This is a key point I will have to focus on as all the facts are fictional, so I have to make the audience believe that they are the characters parents and he really does have this special hearing, etc.
This week I am going to have to get down to a lot of pre production, scripting and story-boarding to give my film more substance and to allow me to vision the project as a whole before I start shooting.
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