I don’t usually pay much attention to the Oscars (too much like big-budget mainstream congratulating itself), but I’m glad to see that The Silent Child won an award last night. I can’t say much about the film itself not having seen it yet, but I’ve heard great things about it. It is about a six-year-old Deaf girl, played by Maisie Sly, and her struggle to communicate. ”The Silent Child tells the story of a profoundly deaf four-year-old called Libby, played by Maisie. She lives a silent life until a social worker, played by [Rachel] Shenton, teaches her how to communicate through sign language.” Thus it’s an film which highlights some of the issues surrounding communication to thefore, which seems to me very much a step in the right direction. I’ll try to get this film watched as soon as possible, and hopefully write a review, but for now it’s great to see disability issues and actors with disabilities finally taking centre stage.