Extant create new audio drama Unseen about the impact of domestic abuse on the VI community

Extant are creating Unseen, an audio drama that imaginatively explores and portrays the unique ways in which domestic abuse affects blind and visually impaired individuals.

Unseen is a creative response to The Unseen Report (if you would like to read the full report, click here: https://www.visionfoundation.org.uk/our-impact/research-and-campaigns/the-unseen-report/) research commissioned by the Vision Foundation and carried out by domestic abuse charity SafeLives. Evidence shows that disabled people are nearly three times as likely to have experienced domestic abuse, however before this report there was limited data around how domestic abuse specifically affects the blind and visually impaired community.

Working with partner organisations Vision Foundation, SafeLives, Refuge and Rising Sun, the project will create an ambitious, informative audio drama that raises awareness both within the blind & VI community and wider sighted community around domestic violence and its impact on VI individuals.

This topic hits close to home for many in our community, so Extant wanted to ensure that the team creating the work was representative, and that we created as many ways for VI artists to be involved in the project as possible.  To this end, we have pulled together a creative team comprised entirely of blind and visually impaired artists to generate material through a devising process. We have also run creative writing workshops for VI survivors of abuse, led by VI workshop facilitators, in order to learn more about the themes and topics around this subject. Across the whole project, we plan to create paid work for up to 20 VI artists in total.

We are also offering the chance for members of the community to share experiences anonymously through an online survey, to make sure that a wide range of perspectives are included. Contributions can be made via the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/M8S27SM

Unseen will be available from February 2024 and more news about how to listen will be released in the new year. We will also be holding a live launch event on Monday 26 February at a London venue – more information coming soon!

Work on Unseen is made possible by support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Vision Foundation.