Signposting – an introduction to making your work more BSL inclusive
At Solar Bear we have been on a journey on how we work with BSL in the digital space. This has led to some exciting projects such as Solar Snaps, bite sized BSL and Visual Vernacular films or Solar Flares our digital programme that focusses on the production of digital projects lead by the deaf community.
Throughout the arts we have seen an increase in other organisations looking to engage with BSL and make their work more accessible, this includes working with interpreting English language work for a deaf audience. However, it became apparent that there was a lack of knowledge about the options, processes, and creative potential, so we teamed up with Creative Scotland to create a digital resource.
We started by thinking about all the questions people might have. What is the best way to work with deaf talent? What happens during a translation process? How do I reach a deaf audience? We then asked people, not just a few, but lots of people.
Then with all the information we created different areas and segments to explore, for example, ‘General Rules for Filmmaking’. It was important to us that this document was not heavy and text based and we are delighted with the visual and informative way it has been designed. Our thanks to Alan Buttar for leading on the design.
Certainly, it is an introduction and each new digital project is a new journey. We are lucky to have some incredible deaf talent in Scotland. Our advice is to learn from this document but work with and develop projects with this talent pool.
We would like to say thank you to Lucy Clark our lead researcher for all her hard work.