Antidote – Sound and Silence: Deaf Stories

For the first time ever the Sydney Opera House will be offering three talks from this years Antidote Festival free and on demand into schools across Australia.

One in six Australians have some hearing loss, and the Auslan-speaking community numbers at more than 30,000. Deaf culture is thriving. Yet in the creation of spaces and social environments, deafness is often overlooked. How do we overcome stigma and exclusion?

In a world made for non-disabled bodies, everything from learning environments to restaurants can be unwelcoming, not to mention some people’s attitudes. COVID-safe practices have made some spaces more accessible, so how do we ensure ongoing change?

Writer Fiona Murphy kept her deafness a secret for over twenty-five years before discovering how sign language could change her life and that Deaf culture could be part of her identity. Her memoir, The Shape of Sound, shows that disability must be viewed beyond the medical definition and recognised as a complex social issue.

Professor Jackie Leach Scully is a bioethicist and Director of the Disability Innovation Institute at UNSW. She uses her own experience of deafness and of growing up in a family with disability to research moral attitudes towards impairment, disability, and the right to be different.

Alex Jones is an actor, theatre director, and performer. He is a passionate advocate for the change of Australian society’s attitudes and behaviours towards people with disability, and people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

Don’t miss this insiders’ discussion about living with an invisible disability, dismantling stigma and creating social policy that honours a diverse range of bodies and hearing abilities.

Speakers:

• Fiona Murphy
• Jackie Leach Scully
• Alex Jones

This experience will be available on demand via YouTube for one week from 6 September until 10 September