can you hear us cover dvd

Press Release

“Can You Hear Us?”

Unique new film made by people with learning disabilities challenges discrimination

A unique new film written, produced and performed by a group of people with learning disabilities is released today in a bid to tackle discrimination.

“Can You Hear Us?” is a collection of dramatic stories drawing on the real life experiences of the people who made the film, ranging from getting engaged to moving into a new home to dealing with the police. The DVD is available to anyone interested in seeing life from a different perspective, and is also an excellent training resource for organisations or individuals working with people with learning disabilities.

“Can You Hear Us?” was made by by UR First, a group of people supported by United Response, the charity creating opportunities with people with learning disabilities. The group was set up to support people to speak out for themselves. They came up with the concept of the film, wrote the scripts and acted in the different stories. A major motive was the fact that when they had grown up themselves they hadn’t seen films like this, only ones made by staff or actors.

David Boyes was one of the members of group. He said: “By making the film, we wanted to show that people with disabilities feel the same things as everyone else. We can work, we can fall in love and we can get married. We can do the same things, it’s just that sometimes we need some support to do them.”

The group worked with staff members to bring the DVD to fruition. Originally intended as a training tool for United Response’s internal use, the group soon realised it would be valuable for anyone who dealt with people with learning disabilities in any way, and pushed for wider release. To ensure the film is as accessible to as many people as possible, it has been produced in several different formats to reach the maximum number of people, so it can be viewed with subtitles, with speech supported signing or with subtitles and British Sign Language.

Members of the public, charities, social workers, teachers, businesses and any customer facing organisations can buy the fully interactive DVD directly through United Response’s website: www.unitedresponse.org.uk.

The film was directed by Kate Jones, a television producer and director with twelve years experience.

For more information pleaseor call 020 8246 5122.

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