Signed Voices

The Signed Voices project captured the Deaf community’s memories, experiences and contemporary values; showcasing them to the wider public and preserving them for future generations.

Signed Voices was an ‘oral history project’ with British Sign Language (BSL) at its core. The project enabled members of the Deaf Community in the North West to share their heritage with the wider public and create a lasting legacy. As part of the project over 200 Deaf volunteers filmed the memories and contemporary thoughts of participants in short semi-structured interviews – conducted in BSL by pairs of volunteers who decided their own interview topic.

This project resulted in a live celebration event and an exhibition which will tour venues across the North West.

The material gathered provides a multitude of fascinating windows through which current and future generations can look to see today’s vibrant Deaf heritage.

The recorded films are archived at the British Deaf History Society, North West Sound Archive, Lancashire Archives and Deafway.