A deaf migrant’s journey from isolation into language

Daniel Nelson

Prepare to have your heartstrings tugged.

The documentary Name Me Lawand pulls them every which way to make its point and tell the story of a deaf Iraqi Kurd who is taken — much of the journey on his father’s back — to Britain.

“We knew that if he stayed in Iraq he would never get a proper chance at life,” says father. “Our dream has always been for Lawand not to be seen as less or different.”

Frightened and bewildered by the hazardous trek, five-year-old Lewand faces the same emotions when he gets into the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby.

”It felt like Derby was the first place where our life would change”, recalls dad.

“Sometimes my brother seems to be on another planet“, says Lawand’s patient, loving brother. But gradually, Lawand makes friends, begins to learn English and sign language (that’s two new languages simultaneously), gains confidence.

He pinballs between frustrations and small victories, between satisfaction and anger. He’s bright and has drive, but the task is daunting. A teacher encourages him to crash out his anger on a drum kit, address the class, confront his past, face his fears. A fascinating, heartwarming transformation is captured on screen.

Then, devastation. The Home Office orders deportation. A protracted process begins:  paperwork, appeals, refusals, local campaigns, see-sawing hopes and tears.

The soundtrack soars and dips, piling on the emotion. For a documentary about deafness, the music is dramatically prominent.

Of course, there’s a climactic, world-changing test, when he has to prove to Home Office consultants that he has advanced significantly at the school and should be allowed to stay. He must take part in a play, but he’s nervous and fluffs his movements. Will he, won’t he be ok on the night? Yes: success, result. The Home Office says that because of his excellent progress he can remain. (Nothing is said about others in a similar situation at the school. Are they sent back to their country of origin because they are perhaps a little slower to learn, a little needier?)

During the film it becomes clear that there’s tension between Lawand and his parents, whose love and commitment had saved him from the bullying and pressure in Iraq by those advising that he should be kept at home because of his disability.

A mysterious stranger, known only as The Volunteer, had briefly come into Lawand’s life on the family’s journey to Europe and taught him his first sign language words. Lawand subsequently chooses to sign rather than try to talk — and his parents opt for the opposite, refusing to learn to sign.

His mother is the first to change, realising it’s what her son wants. Finally, father changes, too. 

“My dad has learned a bit of sign,” says Lawand, evidently relieved and grateful. “But he’s still at level one.”