2024 has been a year where we have intentionally sought out specific groups of people to work with. Building on our Postdoctoral Associate, Dr Mariam Rashid’s lived experience as a Muslim woman who observes Ramadan, she chose to create a Hopes and Fears event specifically focused on Iftar, which is the meal when the fast is broken. She led on the creation of food-based evening discussion between scientists and members of the public to enjoy together, on the theme of ethical issues raised by science (see Hopes and Fears Iftar for more).
We also delivered an event for the British Deaf Association (BDA), which is a group that represents the 200,000 sign-language-using people in the UK. The British Sign Language (BSL) Act was passed in the UK on 28 April 2022. This historic legislation officially recognised British Sign Language as a language of England, Wales, and Scotland. Its passage marked a significant step in promoting the rights of Deaf individuals and improving access to services. When designing our event for Deaf members of the public, we paid specific attention to scaffolding the event so that it could be led by Deaf leaders rather than us.
We worked with Ashley Kendall, a prominent TV presenter who is well known amongst the Deaf community.
We also chose Deaf film-maker, Angela Ansell to direct the film we made of the event. She worked directly with the hearing camera operators, using an interpreter to provide instructions on shots and angles. To prepare our Kavli staff and hearing film crew, we arranged Deaf awareness training with a local Deaf colleague, Yolande Dennis, who came to the Kavli Centre to share insights about Deaf culture and etiquette and teach us some BSL.
