About the film archive
Learn about the history behind our documentary film archive from the 1940s.
Instead of learning sign-language, deaf children are taught to speak and lip-read so that they might interact with others as easily as possible. This is a longer version of Triumph Over Deafness, aimed at a specialist audience.
'Until recently, deaf children were also dumb because they could not hear any sound to imitate. Now they are sent to special free schools where they are taught to speak and to use what hearing they may have, augmented with hearing aids. This treatment is superseding finger-language. It encourages the sufferers to mix more freely with others, and the children to grow up as normally as possible.'
(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1946)
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Learn about the history behind our documentary film archive from the 1940s.
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