Deaf Youth in South Africa.

This is a research project by the University of the Witwatersrand (SA) and the University of Manchester (UK) using community based film methods to explore issues of vulnerability and resilience that deaf youth face in South Africa.

Deaf children and youth face discrimination and exclusion from society. They are not given adequate opportunities for acquiring language, building meaningful relationships, receiving specialised healthcare and receiving equal education. All this vastly decreases their life-chances and infringes their human rights. A multi-disciplinary international collaboration, supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Medical Research Council and the Global Challenges Research Fund, brings visual anthropology, social research and deaf studies together to enlighten and positively shift social attitudes towards deaf children and youth.