How Deaf review Deaf acting storylines..

I found this review about a deaf play called 'Soundproof' from an old deaf magazine...

"So much was expected of this 'inclusive' play about a deaf sign user being suspected of murder. We had thrills, spills, and gratuitious sex to take our minds off the fact, the sign was in Arabic or something, and the camerman in desperate attempts to cover up the poor signing, just omitted covering the hands.

We discovered in the end it just doesn't pay to mess about with someone's hearing aid. Hearing aid users may push you off a high building, assuming they can communicate with you well enough to get you up there. The message being if you are going to hide the batteries or hearing aids of your friends, make sure you are standing well away from a tower block.

The primary actor was HI and what sign made the screen, looked decidely iffy, what do we care ? we had subtitles, perhaps this was a subtle message born deaf do signing best ? The repeated effort on the BBC's sign zone (?), was a complete mess I gather, the interpreter signing when the screen actor does it was horrific and it looked like a punch up at a deaf rave.... Stereophonic BSL is still in its infancy... my money is still on mono..

Is inclusive TV possible for deaf actors ? will there always be a message from them ? The message presumably is stick to cultural influenced deaf portrayals, and the 'in crowd' that follows 'deaf stuff' in some god-forsaken end of the pier theatre in a London Back street, or worse, Sheffield. We saw little or no inclusion of deaf people. It is said the producer was doing a ground-breaking play about deaf, but we waited vainly to actually see any, Labels would have helped.

We saw the UK's ONLY police station that had not one, but TWO in-house terps too, it would have helped if the BBC had given out the address of this police station so next time we all end up in a police situation we get sent there, the ones we get distinctly lack the 'sex factor', and usually we get old trouts. The terp we saw, was rather erm... free with her sexual favours to deaf people, who achieved stud status Warren Beatty would envy, so ladies feel free to be a notch on our bedpost. One proviso, a stage II BSL attainment would help when things get steamy... you don't want to go when you're suppose to be doing the opposite do you ?

Contact your local BDA/RNID office for the nearest class, and the BSL Kama Sutra CD-ROM for the guidelines. A terp who abused every rule in the book and then some, not that most deaf would complain but. We hear on the grape vine, the RNID are going to hold a wet t-shirt compeition for terps soon, so feel free to forward your fave terp for inclusion. Oh well there's always SWITCH, who I gather are going to do some ground-breaking of their own, with the very first inclusion of real hearing people....... are deaf ready for this ? maybe not yet...."