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Crack the Audism: a documentary video

In the long run of history from Aristotle to Alexander Bell, the Deaf have experienced pathological and paternalistic oppression and discrimination in the majority that have impacted on their language, communication, education and employment in similar patterns worldwide. It is unfortunate that despite the changes since the 1980s, deep-rooted audism continues today in a different manner. The video presents the Deaf persons' perspective in their own voice, through their eyes. First hand experiences in their unique language, communication, and challenges of audism are presented to the viewer. This work aims to bring attention to the fact that we are all whole human beings capable of feelings, needs and desires, beyond ears and lips.

Literary media artist: Jolanta Lapiak.
Crack the Audism, 7-minute video.
Calgary, 2003.

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world... Whereas the people of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom..." -- United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948.

"This catalogue has been designed to commemorate the Premiere screening of four commissioned works produced through the Diversity Video Project. The project began in December of 2002 when teh Anti-Discrimination / Anti-Harassment Educational Committee (ADAHEC) at the Alberta College of Art & Design (ACAD) and EMMEDIA teamed up on the idea to commission contemporary videos for use in anti-discrimination/anti-harassment awareness workshops at ACAD. The call for proposals invited all interested students from ACAD to participate. The videos documented here represent the achievement of the four Student Directors selected during the process. Janelle Gibson, Karilynn Ming Ho, Jolanta A. Lapiak, Holly Simon are currently enrolled in full time studies at the ACAD in Calgary." -- Catalogue, 2003.

Crack the Audism is an educational resource that can be used by ASL Deaf studies, human resources agencies, organizations, harassment/discrimination workshops, employment agencies and such.

Screening, 2003.
Radio interview, 2003.

Comments

"Strong impact."

"Inspiring and poetic work."

"It was great to see audism not only the term coined by Tom Humphries, but this issue brought to light in a public domain. It was quite effective having two people in the video. While it was a challenge for the viewer to maintain focus on two speakers, the intent perhaps was to explicitly show the bombardment of information on teh viewer and the chaotic nature that occurs for people when information overload occurs. Originally I thought only ne person shoudl be in the shot, but for artistic purposes, two persons were effective. Furthermore, it grounded the experience of persecution, discrimination, and oppression that is central to audism. I hope this issue stays public." -- Teresa Fleming, 2003.

"Powerful."