The Radical Silence Project

Radical Silence is:

• A refusal of verbal dominance in professional, artistic, and social spaces.
• A mode of access that recognizes the legitimacy of non-verbal communication.
• A practice of agency and self-permission, challenging the idea that silence must always be explained or justified.
• A critique of ableism in spaces that prioritize speech and auditory engagement.
• A creative tool for exploring language, presence, and communication beyond the spoken word.
• A way of existing that is not bound by identity, ability, education, or privilege.

Radical Silence is not:

• A religious vow.
• A punishment; not for those who practice it, and not for those who interact with it.
• A passive retreat from engagement.
• An excuse for harmful behaviour.
• A universal experience.

Radical Silence welcomes plurality, contradiction, and challenge.

Silence is not empty. Radical Silence recognizes, includes, and makes space for:

• Existing / Surviving
• Agency & Choice
• Visual & Signed Languages
• Gestures, Movement, Pointing
• Dance, Mime, Clowning, Play, and Culture
• Rest / Pause
• Symbols, Code, Energy
• Technology & Adaptive Tools
• Stillness / Patience
• Gender Transitioning, Questioning, or Acceptance
• Witnessing

Radical Silence does not seek to replace language, but to make room for different ways of being.

The Principles of Radical Silence are:

• You don't need a reason to be silent.
• You don't need to prove anything to participate.
• It is not a ritual, spiritual practice, or act of deprivation.
• It is not a language, but makes space for multiple forms of communication, including:
  • Recognized, practiced, and lost languages.
  • Localized, ephemeral, community, home, and play-based pidgin languages.
• There is no universal "correct" way to engage in silence.
• Radical Silence acknowledges oppression and scarcity - but does not compare trauma.
• Silence does not excuse those who interrupt, speak over, or ignore it.
• It challenges the assumption that silenve invites interruption.
• It practices patience and respects that non-verbal communication happens at different paces.
• It acknowledges access conflicts, but does not seek to immediately resolve them.
• It does not shame people for:
  • Stimming.
  • Not understanding.
  • Making noise.
  • Speaking.

Radical Silence is not about hearing loss or d/Deaf culture, but it can be practiced by people who are deaf or hard of hearing, or the Deaf, and Hard of Hearing.

Radical Silence is inherently about conflict and consent.

• It acknowledges conflict and discomfort.
• It recognizes that non-visual participation may come with increased barriers.
• It embraces tactile, haptic, and alternative forms of interaction.
• It requires consent. Physical interaction must be intentional.
• It allows for mistakes. It allows people to be offended. It doesn't seek to harm, but it doesn't ignore that harm is unavoidable. It acknowledges risk. It requires forgiveness, patience, and respect.
• It is not easy - even if it is easy to start practicing.

Radical Silence recognizes that conflict may arise between non-verbal access needs and cultural practices.

Radical Silence explores identity and permission.

Radical Silence does not require you to be:

• Healthy or unhealthy.
• Struggling, broken, or fixed.
• Typical, disabled, Deaf, or hearing.
• Young or old.
• Educated, privileged, or poor.
• Mad, neurodivergent, or happy.

There are no prerequisites, no ID checks, no state required.

• Radical Silence is not policed.
• It is about agency - the permission not to speak.
• It challenges verbal primacy, allowing for new forms of interaction.

Radical Silence is not anti-technology - it supports the use of:

• Assistive devices, hearing aids, and headphones.
• Music.
• PPE gear, including masks.
• Clothing, jewelry, and accessories.
• Text-based, gestural, and adaptive technologies and digital communication tools.

It does not require that all practictioners use, enjoy or support these tools, but it does require that they do not shame its use by other practictioners.

Silence is a choice enhanced, not erased, by tools that support personal access.

Where It Began

The Radical Silence Project formally began in February 2024 when I engaged in a structured, month-long non-verbal practice at grunt gallery, coinciding with the hosting of a non-verbal artist-in-residence. But in reality, this work has been years in the making.

For two years prior, I prototyped Voice-Off Low-Sensory Thursdays at grunt, offering a weekly space where non-verbal communication was not an exception, but the norm. My own experiences as a hard-of-hearing, oral individual navigating an overwhelmingly verbal world have shaped my understanding of silence as both a necessity and an act of resistance.

Since that initial month at grunt, the project has continued to evolve through:

• October 2024:
  
  • A residency at FLEET Granville Island, where I publicly engaged in a month-long non-verbal practice in a mobile artist studio, introducing the project to a broader public audience.
• February 2025:
  
  • A second non-verbal engagement at grunt gallery, this time co-facilitating an expanded residency with two non-verbal artists.
  • A residency at FLEET Burnaby, situating the practice in a new city and engaging with a different community context.

Each iteration has introduced new challenges, new learnings, and new questions about what it means to create space for radical silence.

Core Themes of the Radical Silence Project

Permission & Agency

Who is allowed to be silent? Who decides whether silence is acceptable or disruptive? What does it mean to give oneself permission not to speak?

Giving oneself permission to be non-verbal is a radical act in a world that expects constant verbal participation. Silence is often assumed to be either a limitation or defiance, rather than a valid and intentional way of being. The Radical Silence Project challenges this assumption, creating spaces where silence does not have to be justified, excused, or granted by others.

Silence as Access

Non-verbal engagement is often assumed to be a limitation, rather than an intentional way of existing. The Radical Silence Project reframes silence as a mode of access, not just for Deaf/HoH individuals, but for anyone who benefits from non-verbal interaction.

Power in Non-Verbal Spaces

Silence is not inherently neutral. Even in non-verbal spaces, power exists. Who is heard when verbal language is removed? Does silence create new forms of hierarchy, or does it redistribute power in new ways?

Context & Cultural Assumptions

In hearing-dominant spaces, silence is often seen as defiance, secrecy, or withdrawal. In Deaf spaces, speaking can be seen as a form of exclusion or cultural erasure. This project exists in the tension between these perspectives, navigating the complexities of non-verbal engagement across different cultural and linguistic contexts.

What's Next?

Radical Silence is an ongoing experiment. It is not finished, and it may never be. As I enter the second year of this project, I am thinking more about:

• Reciprocity in non-verbal spaces - what it means to invite others into silence without imposing it.
• The relationship between silence and access; how to ensure that non-verbal spaces remain equitable within those forms of communication.
• The emotional and political dimensions of silence - what silence makes possible, what it challenges, and where it is still resisted.

If this project resonates with you, I invite you to explore it with me. Email me at k-a-y-at-k-d-o-t-dot-c-a.

Radical Silence Project, a manifesto by Kay Slater is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International