HT's Christopher Laing in BBC film 26.06.23

Signs for Change is a BBC documentary presented by Rose Ayling-Ellis which challenges perceptions of the Deaf community. Christopher Laing and Rose met at the University of Creative Arts Canterbury in 2011 as two of only three Deaf students and have been friends ever since. In a segment filmed at HT's studio, they discuss experiences of Deafness in general and those related to Chris's time in architecture. With only five qualified Deaf Architects in the UK, the industry clearly has many barriers to entry. To counteract this, Chris, a PII Architectural Assistant recently launched the Deaf Architecture Front (DAF), a platform and collective focusing on activism, consulting, research, and the creation of open-source resources. Signstrokes, Chris's linguistic project expanding architectural terms for British Sign Language users, was launched in 2020 but has been paused due to lack of funding. DAF aims to provide the means for the continuation of this vital resource. You can watch the documentary on BBC1 at 9pm on Monday 26 June and afterwards on iPlayer.

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