Silent Buttons is a brand new campaign film from the 2024 Adam Reynolds Awardee Chris Laing.

Over the last year, 2024 ARA Winner Chris Laing, with creative production from Shape Arts, has been working on a new campaign film that shines a light on the barriers faced by deaf people in public space and urban infrastructure. Silent Buttons focusses on Hannah, and independent Londoner whose day-to-day life is disrupted by the barriers she experiences when using public transport, in the working environment, and even in her home life on account of being a deaf person.

The campaign’s ambition is to highlight the inequities of city life and how a lack of consideration in architecture, infrastructure, and design create and reinforce exclusion in society.

Director, Chris Laing, said: “I hope this project raises awareness of the barriers deaf people face and engages new audiences in a conversation about how we can think, plan, and build a better future for our communities, considering the needs of everyone.”

Why did we make Silent Buttons?

Chris Laing wanted to use his directorial debut to make a film that highlighted the everyday barriers faced by deaf people in the city. Barriers like discrimination, inaccessible design and architecture, and lack of awareness, that frequently make deaf individuals vulnerable.

Here are some facts we thought were important to spotlight as part of the campaign:

At least 1 in 5 adults in the UK is deaf or hard of hearing
The Metropolitan Police Force has fewer than 200 officers who are taught basic British Sign Language, in a population of over 9 million
At least 150,000 people in the UK use British Sign Language
83% of deaf employees feel excluded from conversations with their colleagues
Deaf people are twice as likely to be out of work as their hearing peers
1 in 2 people don’t know how to communicate with someone who is deaf
Data was gathered for this campaign from the following sources:

Royal National Insitute for the Deaf’s 2023 research paper into the public’s awareness of deafness

The British Government’s 2023 BSL Report, part of the 2022 British Sign Language Act Royal National Institute for the Deaf’s 2024 publication ‘It Does Matter’ researching public attitudes towards the deaf

Royal Association for Deaf People’s 2020 Work and Pensions Select Committee Inquiry into the disability employment gap

Get involved with the campaign!
We want to raise awareness through this campaign. We want hearing people from all backgrounds to understand the impact a lack of accessibility can have for deaf people. Through awareness, we hope to effect change. We want greater consideration of the barriers that deaf people face day to day, so that we can begin to design better systems, infrastructure, and architecture to truly make the city an inclusive environment for all its residents and visitors.

You can help us do this by spreading the word, carrying on the conversation, and sharing your own ideas about what we could change to overcome and dismantle these barriers in society.

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Tags audio described audio description awareness Barriers Buttons campaign Chris city life Deaf deaf awareness deaf culture deaf life Disability disabled HARD OF HEARING Laing london short fil short film Silent social justice social model of disability tfl