Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: documentary introduces couple 's personal histories, Fact2: childhood years learning to communicate in special school, Fact3: Paul was pioneer in development of TDD, Fact4: couple struggles to adjust after living deaf for lifetime, Fact5: cochlear implant surgery in intimate family setting rather than larger context of Deaf community
Output (English): The filmmakers parents were both born deaf; and the couple raised children who were not deaf. Paul Taylor and his wife Sally Taylor were in their 60s when they both decided to have cochlear implant surgery, which could permit them to hear for the first time. The documentary follows what turns out to be a complicated journey from the comfortable world of silence to a profoundly challenging world of sounds and language. The documentary introduces the couples personal histories – childhood years learning to communicate in a special school, experiencing the stigma surrounding deafness in mainstream high schools, and having meaningful careers in the Deaf community at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Paul was a pioneer in development of TDD telecommunications device for the deaf which is also known as TTY. The couples filmmaker daughter chronicled these surgeries and the aftermath. The film show some of the shortterm consequences, including both expected and unexpected adjustments each would need to make. These two deaf people investigate the sounds and meaning of sounds; but learning what not to hear becomes an equally significant challenge. The camera records quite different reactions as the couple struggles to adjust after living deaf for a lifetime. The effects of the surgeries are not entirely positive. The film establishes cochlear implant surgery in an intimate family setting rather than the larger context of the Deaf community.