TALKING HANDS

At the time, in 1993, I was freelancing at the SABC as an assistant-producer, just having returned from backpacking the the USA. I went to the office of my producer and walked in on a conversation they were having about starting a weekly magazine programme for Deaf people. I listened in, asked what I went there to ask, went back to my office, sat down, got up from my chair, walked straight back and said "Mine! Give it to me. I'll do it." Ann said, "But you haven't directed before" and I said "I'll learn, give me a chance". And she did. I'll forever be grateful to her... One of my first daunting tasks, even before my show went on air, was to direct a South African contribution for a Christmas Special broadcast by the BBC. With an interpreter glued to my arm, I directed the filming of a Deaf choir signing Christmas Carols and it came out beautifully... We all have something we're really proud of in life. When the broadcast of the 1994 elections started, I realised that Deaf people were..